url stringlengths 37 208 | title stringlengths 4 148 | author stringclasses 173
values | publish_date stringclasses 1
value | categories listlengths 0 12 | tags listlengths 0 27 | featured_image stringlengths 0 272 | content stringlengths 0 56.1k | comments_count int64 0 900 | scraped_comments_count int64 0 50 | comments listlengths 0 50 | scraped_at float64 1.76B 1.76B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/26/getting-into-nmr-without-the-superconducting-magnet/ | Getting Into NMR Without The Superconducting Magnet | Dan Maloney | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"hydrogen",
"Larmor",
"magnetic resonance",
"mri",
"NMR",
"nuclear",
"sdr",
"waterfall"
] | Exploring the mysteries of quantum mechanics surely seems like an endeavor that requires room-sized equipment and racks of electronics, along with large buckets of grant money, to accomplish. And while that’s generally true, there’s quite a lot that can be accomplished on a considerably more modest budget, as
this as-simple-as-it-gets nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscope
amply demonstrates.
First things first: Does the “magnetic resonance” part of “NMR” bear any relationship to
magnetic resonance imaging
? Indeed it does, as the technique of lining up nuclei in a magnetic field, perturbing them with an electromagnetic field, and receiving the resultant RF signals as the nuclei snap back to their original spin state lies at the heart of both. And while MRI scanners and the large NMR spectrometers used in analytical chemistry labs both use extremely powerful magnetic fields, [Andy Nicol] shows us that even the Earth’s magnetic field can be used for NMR.
[Andy]’s NMR setup couldn’t be simpler. It consists of a coil of enameled copper wire wound on a 40 mm PVC tube and a simple control box with nothing more than a switch and a couple of capacitors. The only fancy bit is a USB audio interface, which is used to amplify and digitize the 2-kHz-ish signal generated by hydrogen atoms when they precess in Earth’s extremely weak magnetic field. A tripod stripped of all ferrous metal parts is also handy, as this setup needs to be outdoors where interfering magnetic fields can be minimized. In use, the coil is charged with a LiPo battery for about 10 seconds before being rapidly switched to the input of the USB amp. The resulting resonance signal is visualized using the waterfall display on SDR#.
[Andy] includes a lot of helpful tips in his excellent write-up, like tuning the coil with capacitors, minimizing noise, and estimating the exact resonance frequency expected based on the strength of the local magnetic field. It’s a great project and a good explanation of how NMR works. And it’s nowhere near
as loud as an MRI scanner
. | 14 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6646881",
"author": "Prfesser",
"timestamp": "2023-05-26T11:25:05",
"content": "The old “The Amateur Scientist” in Scientific American had an article on how to build a magnetic resonance instrument…in the 1950s or early 60s…using vacuum tubes and an oscilloscope. Of course, it could... | 1,760,372,287.907243 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/26/when-the-professionals-trash-your-data-tape-can-it-still-be-recovered/ | When The Professionals Trash Your Data Tape, Can It Still Be Recovered? | Jenny List | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"data recovery",
"frogger",
"onstream"
] | People trying to preserve digital artifacts held on old media often not only have to contend with the media themselves decaying, but also with obscure media formats for which there’s seemingly little chance of finding a working reader. [Kneesnap] had this problem with a tape containing the only known copy of all the assets for the game
Frogger 2: Swampy’s Revenge
, and
the tale of how the data was recovered
is a dive into both the shady side of the data recovery industry and some clever old-format hacking.
The tape was an Onstream cartridge, a short-lived format from a company whose first product hit the market at the end of the ’90s and who went bust in 2004. An old drive was found, but it proved to have a pinch roller melted with age, so in desperation the tape was sent to a data recovery company.
We admire the forbearance in not naming and shaming the data recovery company, because far from recovering the data they sent it back with the tape damaged and spliced — something you can do with an analogue tape but not a digital one without compromising the data. Then faced with an unrecoverable tape and a slightly different Onstream cartridge, how could anything be salvaged?
The answer came in overriding the drive’s sensors and initializing it with a known-good tape, then swapping out the tapes so that the drive, unaware anything had changed, could read whatever data it could find. In the event the vast majority of the archive was retrieved, making it a win for the preservation of that game.
This may be more involved than some recovery stories, but
it’s not the first we’ve covered
. | 17 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6646857",
"author": "fhunter",
"timestamp": "2023-05-26T09:24:32",
"content": "IMO – shaming of the company MUST be done. So that others do not end up in the same situation.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6646862",
"a... | 1,760,372,288.072885 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/25/a-mobile-phone-from-1985/ | A Mobile Phone From 1985 | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Phone Hacks"
] | [
"80's",
"cell",
"cell phone",
"cellular",
"mobile",
"pcb",
"phone",
"retro",
"surface mount",
"teardown",
"technophone"
] | It might seem quaint through the lends of history we have the luxury of looking through, but in the mid 1980s it was a major symbol of status to be able to communicate on-the-go. Car phones and pagers were cutting-edge devices of the time, and even though there were some mobile cellular telephones, they were behemoths compared to anything we would recognize as a cell phone today. It wasn’t until 1985 that a cell phone was able to fit in a pocket, and that first device wasn’t just revolutionary because of its size. It made a number of technological advancements that were extremely impressive for its time, and [Janus Cycle]
takes us through some of those in this teardown video
.
The Technophone came to us from Great Britain by way of a former Ericsson engineer named Nils Mårtensson. It was able to achieve its relatively small stature using a surface-mount PCB, which was a cutting-edge manufacturing process for the time. Not only did it use surface-mount components and boards, but the PCB itself has 12 layers and two sides and hosts two custom Technophone chips. The phone is relatively modular as well, with the screen, battery pack, and other components capable of easily disconnecting from the main board.
Some cleanup of the phone was needed after the teardown, but after removing some corrosion and replacing the nickel-cadmium battery with a few AA batteries, the phone was able to power on. There were some other surprises to find here as well. The phone includes an extensive menu, another rarity among mobile phones of the era, a fairly comprehensive set of setup and troubleshooting tools, and even hints that its EEPROM was at some point or other erased and given a software upgrade.
Since the mobile network technology that would have supported a phone like this has long since faded into obscurity, [Janus Cycle] was able to find a text file to open up some developer options,
shared on BBS message boards
in the early days of the Internet by people then known as
phreakers
. It’s an early example of cracking a mobile phone, which is interesting on its own, and the amount of tools available to those working on these devices further illustrates how far ahead these devices were in 1985.
Thanks to [Michael] for the tip! | 8 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6646831",
"author": "hinspect",
"timestamp": "2023-05-26T05:22:44",
"content": "I was Junior Engineer for an FM/AM station back in 1981. The station owner had Mobilphones in his Car and Blazer and they looked like regular Telephones. I used the one in the Blazer when my Truck was be... | 1,760,372,288.011713 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/25/vehicle-to-grid-made-easy/ | Vehicle-to-Grid Made Easy | Bryan Cockfield | [
"green hacks"
] | [
"battery",
"battery pack",
"CAN",
"electric vehicle",
"ev",
"grid",
"inverter",
"Modbus",
"open source",
"vehicle-to-grid",
"vehicle-to-home"
] | As electric cars continue to see increased adoption, one associated technology that was touted long ago that still hasn’t seen widespread adoption is vehicle-to-grid or vehicle-to-home. Since most cars are parked most of the time, this would allow the cars to perform load-levelling for the grid or even act as emergency generators on an individual basis when needed. While this hasn’t panned out for a variety of reasons, it is still possible to use an EV battery for use off-grid or as part of a grid tie solar system, and now
you can do it without needing to disassemble the battery packs at all
.
Normally when attempting to use a scrapped EV battery for another use, the cells would be removed from the OEM pack and reorganized to a specific voltage. This build, however, eliminates the need to modify the packs at all. A LilyGO ESP32 is used to convert the CAN bus messages from the battery pack to the Modbus communications protocol used by the inverters, in this case a Fronius Gen24, so the inverter and battery can coordinate energy delivery from one to the other automatically. With the hard part out of the way, the only other requirements are to connect a high voltage DC cable from the battery pack to the inverter.
[Dala], the creator of this project, has taken other steps to ensure safety as well that we’d recommend anyone attempting to recreate this build pays close attention to, as these battery packs contain an extremely large amount of energy. The system itself supports battery packs from Nissan Leafs as well as the Tesla Model 3, which can usually be found for comparably low prices. Building battery energy storage systems to make up for the lack of commercially-available vehicle-to-home systems isn’t the only use for an old EV battery, though. For example, it’s possible to use Leaf batteries to triple the range of other EVs
like [Muxsan] did with this Nissan van
. | 37 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6646813",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
"timestamp": "2023-05-26T02:10:59",
"content": "I wouldn’t have thought of doing that!That is some out of the box[y car] thinking.Even though it is already weather proof, I think it should have additional protection.(Though ... | 1,760,372,288.155205 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/25/hacking-the-ikea-obegransad-led-wall-lamp/ | Hacking The IKEA OBEGRÄNSAD LED Wall Lamp | Donald Papp | [
"home hacks",
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"ESP32",
"ikea hacks",
"LED panel",
"pixel lamp"
] | The IKEA OBEGRÄNSAD is a pixel-style LED wall lamp that comes with a few baked-in animations, and [ph1p]
improved it immensely
with an ESP32 board and new firmware. The new controller provides all kinds of great new abilities, including new modes and animations, WiFi control, and the ability to send your own images or drawings to the panel. All it takes is desoldering the original controller and swapping in a programmed ESP32.
Hacking in a new controller provides a whole new range of capabilities.
Sadly, opening the unit up is a bit of a pain. It seems the back panel is attached with rivets rather than screws, but it will yield to a little bit of prying force.
The good news is that once the back panel is off, the inside of the OBEGRÄNSAD is very hackable. All the parts and connectors are easily accessible from where they are, and a nicely-labeled pin header makes a convenient attachment point for the new ESP32 board. There’s no need to disassemble any further once the back is off, and that’s always nice.
Going a bit smaller, we’ve also seen an IKEA LED nightlight
greatly improved by a little hacking
, and there are
plenty more IKEA hacks where that came from
. | 18 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6646774",
"author": "Clyde",
"timestamp": "2023-05-25T23:13:00",
"content": "Now it just needs a Bad Apple demo.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6646811",
"author": "malcolm",
"timestamp": "2023-05-26T01:56:21",
"con... | 1,760,372,288.275656 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/25/the-voltaic-pile-building-the-first-battery/ | The Voltaic Pile: Building The First Battery | Bryan Cockfield | [
"News"
] | [
"3d printed",
"battery",
"copper",
"demonstration",
"educational",
"electrolyte",
"spring",
"voltaic pile",
"zinc"
] | In the technologically-underpinned modern world, most of us interact with a battery of some sort every day. Whether that’s the starter battery in a car, the lithium battery in a phone, or even just the coin cell battery in a wrist watch, batteries underpin a lot of what makes society possible now. Not so in the early 1800s when chemists and physicists were first building and experimenting with batteries. And those batteries were enormous, non-rechargable, and fairly fragile to boot. Not something suited for powering much of anything, but if you want to explore what it would have been like to use one of these devices, follow along with [Christopher]’s
build of a voltaic pile
.
The voltaic pile is historically constructed using discs of alternating zinc and copper paired with an acidic electrolyte, but this build uses much more convenient metallic strips instead of larger discs. Tissues are used to facilitate absorption of the electrolyte solution, and a 3D-printed case is used to help hold everything together, with a spring mechanism built-in which keeps pressure on the alternating metallic strips. The electrolyte is nothing more than salt water here, which transports the ions from one end of the battery through the circuit to the other. With everything assembled in the 3D printed case, the voltaic pile creates almost 3 volts, although [Christopher] notes it should be making closer to 5 volts but there’s likely an internal short somewhere.
While voltaic piles don’t have much use anymore due to their limitations, [Christopher] intended this build to be used more of an educational demonstration than a practical application. It’s much easier to build this one than a more historically accurate one as well, and the use of springs and 3D printed parts means that it could be made to have a larger or smaller voltage by simply adding or removing cells within the pile. It’s also similar to the lemon or potato battery, the latter of which we’ve actually seen put to practical use in
this 12V potato battery pack
. | 11 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6646745",
"author": "𐂀 𐂅",
"timestamp": "2023-05-25T21:16:55",
"content": "That is a great project to try with the kids, but they’d probably then want to move on to something rechargeable.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "664... | 1,760,372,287.959615 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/25/hackaday-prize-2023-hearing-sirens-when-drivers-cant/ | Hackaday Prize 2023: Hearing Sirens When Drivers Can’t | Donald Papp | [
"Machine Learning",
"Microcontrollers",
"The Hackaday Prize"
] | [
"2023 Hackaday Prize",
"ASSISTIVE TECH",
"audio",
"diy",
"machine learning",
"sirens"
] | [Jan Říha]’s
PionEar
device is a wonderful entry to the Assistive Tech portion of the
2023 Hackaday Prize
. It’s a small unit intended to perch within view of the driver in a vehicle, and it has one job: flash a light whenever a siren is detected. It is intended to provide drivers with a better awareness of emergency vehicles, because they are so often heard well before they are seen, and their presence disrupts the usual flow of the road. [Jan] learned that there was a positive response in the Deaf and hard of hearing communities to a device like this; roads get safer when one has early warning.
Deaf and hard of hearing folks are perfectly capable of driving. After all, not being able to hear is not a barrier to obeying the rules of the road. Even so, for some drivers it can improve awareness of their surroundings, which translates to greater safety. For the hearing impaired, higher frequencies tend to experience the most attenuation, and this can include high-pitched sirens.
The
PionEar
leverages embedded machine learning to identify sirens, which is a fantastic application of the technology. Machine learning, after all, is a way to solve the kinds of problems that humans are not good at figuring out how to write a program to solve. Singling out the presence of a siren in live environmental audio definitely qualifies.
We also like the clever way that [Jan] embedded an LED light guide into the 3D-printed enclosure: by making a channel and pouring in a small amount of white resin intended for 3D printers. Cure the resin with a UV light, and one is left with an awfully good light guide that doubles as a diffuser. You can see it all in action in a short video, just under the page break.
The
Hackaday
Prize 2023
is Sponsored by: | 25 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6646709",
"author": "CRJEEA",
"timestamp": "2023-05-25T19:24:25",
"content": "We could have short range transmitters on ambulances and fire engines, enabling a sort of RDS like feature, broadcast on a loop, announcing on the car’s radio that an emergency vehicle is approaching.",
... | 1,760,372,288.62342 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/25/new-drug-has-the-potential-as-dirty-bomb-antidote/ | New Drug Has Potential As Dirty Bomb Antidote | Dan Maloney | [
"Medical Hacks",
"News"
] | [
"actinide",
"antidote",
"chelation",
"dirty bomb",
"ion",
"isotope",
"medicine",
"Plutonium",
"uranium"
] | It perhaps goes without saying that one nuclear bomb can really ruin your day. The same is true for non-nuclear dirty bombs, which just use conventional explosives to disperse radioactive material over a wide area. Either way, the debris scattered by any type of radiation weapon has the potential to result in thousands or perhaps millions of injuries, for which modern medicine offers little in the way of relief.
HOPO 14-1, aka 3,4,3-Li(1,2-HOPO). The four hydroxypyridinone groups do the work of coordinating radioactive ions and making them soluble so they can be eliminated in urine.
But maybe not for long. A Phase 1 clinical trial is currently underway to see if
an oral drug is able to scour radioactive elements from the human body
. The investigational compound is called HOPO 14-1, a chelating agent that has a high affinity for metals in the actinide series, which includes plutonium, uranium, thorium, and
cerium
curium. Chelating agents, which are molecules that contain a multitude of electron donor sites, are able to bind to positively charged metal ions and make the soluble in aqueous solutions. Chelators are important in food and pharmaceutical processing — read the ingredients list on just about anything from a can of soda to a bottle of shampoo and you’re likely to see EDTA, or ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, which binds to any metal ions that make it into the product, particularly iron ions that come from the stainless steel plumbing used in processing equipment.
The compound under evaluation, HOPO 14-1, is a powerful chelator of metal ions. Its structure is inspired by natural chelators produced by bacteria and fungi, called siderophores, which help the microorganisms accumulate iron. Its mechanism of action is to sequester the radioactive ions and make them soluble enough to be passed out of the body in the urine, rather than to have the radioactive elements carried around the body and incorporated into the bones and other tissues where they can cause
radiation damage
for years.
HOPO 14-1 has a number of potential benefits over the current frontline chelator for plutonium and uranium toxicity, DTPA or diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid. Where DTPA needs to be injected intravenously to be effective, HOPO 14-1 can be made into a pill, making stockpiling and administering the drug easier. If, of course, it passes Phase 1 safety trials and survives later trials to determine efficacy. | 39 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6646654",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2023-05-25T15:34:17",
"content": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_bomb#TestsDirty bombs are complete BS FYI",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6646661",
"author": "trinkle33",
... | 1,760,372,288.555305 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/25/3d-model-subscriptions-are-coming-but-whos-buying/ | 3D Model Subscriptions Are Coming, But Who’s Buying? | Tom Nardi | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Current Events",
"Featured",
"Interest",
"Slider"
] | [
"3D models",
"art",
"drm",
"Printables",
"Thangs"
] | We’ve all been there before — you need some 3D printable design that you figure must be common enough that somebody has already designed it, so you point your browser to Thingiverse or Printables, and in a few minutes you’ve got STL in hand and are ready to slice and print. If the design worked for you, perhaps you’ll go back and post an image of your print and leave a word of thanks to the designer.
Afterwards, you’ll probably never give that person a second thought for the rest of your life. Within a day or two, there’s a good chance you won’t even remember their username. It’s why most of the model sharing sites will present you with a list of your recently downloaded models when you want to upload a picture of your print, otherwise there’s a good chance you wouldn’t be able to find the thing.
Now if you
really
liked the model, you might go as far as following the designer. But even then, there would likely be some extenuating circumstances. After all, even the most expertly designed widget is still just a widget, and the chances of that person creating another one that you’d also happen to need seems exceedingly slim. Most of the interactions on these model sharing sites are like two ships passing in the night; it so happened that you and the creator had similar enough needs that you could both use the same printable object, but there’s no telling if you’ll ever cross paths with them again.
Which is why the recent announcements, dropped just hours from each other, that both
Thangs
and
Printables
would be rolling out paid subscription services seems so odd. Both sites claim that not only is there a demand for a service that would allow users to pay designers monthly for their designs, but that existing services such as Patreon are unable to meet the unique challenges involved.
Both sites say they have the solution, and can help creators turn their passion for 3D design into a regular revenue stream — as long as they get their piece of the action, that is.
Supply and Demand
The idea of offering paid subscriptions for an individual’s content is of course nothing new. As previously mentioned, Patreon is already an option used by creators as a way for their followers to support them financially. In return, they get perks like early access to new content or direct one-on-one contact with the creator themselves. If you’re willing to support them at a high enough monthly level, there’s often the opportunity to have custom work commissioned. Perhaps the most notorious of these services is OnlyFans, which has become the unofficial home of bespoke adult content that can only be unlocked via monthly tithing.
With such services, there’s a clear expectation of continual content. Whether it’s early access to a YouTube video about retrocomputing or high-res images of a scantily-clad photo shoot, there’s an implicit guarantee that your monthly support grants you access to a regular flow of
something
that’s interesting or desirable. It’s simple economics — they have something people want, and customers are willing to pay regularly for it.
But how that fits in with 3D printing is a bit less clear. As most of us have come to realize by now, desktop 3D printing is best suited to producing highly customized one-off objects. Sure there are occasions where a group of people will serendipitously require the same object, say a holder for a particular tool, which is why model sharing sites were established in the first place. But that’s still just a one time exchange.
What about the next month, or the month after that? What could that same designer offer you that would keep your interest over the long term, much less be worth the cost of admission?
Experience tells us that, for the most part, the most important and valuable objects you’ll ever print on your desktop machine will have two things in common: you’ll design it yourself, and you probably won’t even know it was something you needed beforehand.
Technical Difficulties
Being Hackaday, we’ve thus far approached this from a practical standpoint. In this community we largely use 3D printing as a tool to build personal projects that may or may not be of use to anyone else. In such an environment, the monthly subscription model is a tough sell. But to be fair, some are more interested in the artistic applications of the technology.
In that case, perhaps you
do
have a favorite 3D artist, and you’d be willing to pay every month to get access to their latest piece. We could certainly see somebody putting out a few dollars a month to get access to models like wargaming miniatures or busts of celebrities or historical figures — in other words, streams of printable objects that could remain fresh and exciting for months or even years to come.
But even in that case, it’s difficult to see why we need a dedicated subscription service…much less two of them. In the announcements about their respective services, Thangs and Printables both cited the challenges of managing users and content downloads. The Printables blog post specifically points to Patreon’s lack of file hosing, and goes on to explain how creators are left to figure out how to securely provide their models to supporters.
It goes as far as to say that, in some cases, dealing with the logistics of this consumes more time than it takes to create the pieces being shared in the first place.
That’s a claim we’re skeptical of, to put it mildly. This isn’t the 1990s, and file hosting is hardly difficult to come by. For example, GitHub offers granular repository permissions that would allow you to create a private repository that only invited users could view and comment on.
We’d also point out that, due to the lack of any DRM on STL files, there’s no way to actually limit who can use them once they’ve been downloaded. So even if you did come up with an elaborate authentication system to make sure only paying customers got access to your latest model, nothing except their conscience would stop one of them from immediately re-uploading it to another model hosting site for free and making the whole endeavour moot.
Suffering from Success
To that end, at least Thangs says they have a plan in place. Using their 3D search engine technology, the service will be able to “notify creators if content from paid membership plans has been publicly shared without permission on a number of third party platforms.” What the creator is supposed to do with said information is, unfortunately, a bit less clear.
Those who’ve been involved with desktop 3D printing for awhile will likely remember the saga of Aria the Dragon. When it was discovered that somebody on eBay was printing and selling the Creative Commons licensed model without any attribution to creator Louise Driggers, it
triggered a huge debate about the nature of 3D printed art
. The seller argued that Louise gave up her rights by putting the model online, and if it wasn’t for the negative press coverage the situation garnered, it’s not clear eBay or Thingiverse would have bothered to get involved.
When a creator finds one of their subscription models is being offered for free somewhere else, will they have to make as much noise as Louise did to get results? Or will Thangs put on the necessary pressure to make sure that these models are removed from rival services in a timely manner? Unfortunately, we probably won’t know the answer until somebody has their work copied out from under them.
There’s Gold in Them STLs
Let’s be clear, creators should absolutely have the tools necessary to charge for their 3D models if they wish, and we’d love to see people earning a living doing so. But creating two competing monthly subscription services just seems like a lot of wasted effort, especially for a problem that seems like it’s already been largely solved. Sites like Cults3D and cgtrader have allowed creators to sell their models for years, no subscription required. If you like a particular model, you can simply buy it like any other piece of digital content.
We could think of a
lot worse ways to spend $45
.
But ultimately, whether the 3D printing subscription services actually take off depends on the community. So what do the good readers of Hackaday think? Is this the kind of monetary incentive creators need to produce the next generation of printable models, or will it be looked back on as yet another misguided attempt to cash in on the hype surrounding a technology that seems perfectly content with teetering on the edge of mainstream adoption? | 51 | 29 | [
{
"comment_id": "6646629",
"author": "kotaKat",
"timestamp": "2023-05-25T14:13:30",
"content": "Some of these 3D modelers also provide you selling rights access when you subscribe to them, which makes it (vaguely) profitable if you feel like selling locally/to friends/etc — if anything, the selling ... | 1,760,372,288.469796 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/25/bankruptcy-sale-scatters-virgin-orbit-to-the-winds/ | Bankruptcy Sale Scatters Virgin Orbit To The Winds | Tom Nardi | [
"News",
"Space"
] | [
"commercial space",
"Launcher One",
"SmallSat",
"Virgin Orbit"
] | When Virgin Orbit filed for bankruptcy in April, it was clear the commercial launch provider was in serious trouble. Despite successfully putting four payloads into low Earth orbit, the spin-off of Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic space tourism company had struggled to achieve a high enough launch cadence to become profitable, and had recently suffered a highly-publicized failure when their first launch from the UK from the newly-completed Spaceport Cornwall ended in a complete loss of the vehicle.
There was some hope that a buyer would swoop in and save them at the last minute, but now that the
bankruptcy auction has spread out the company’s assets
among several other players in the commercial launch industry, Virgin Orbital is officially no more. With future launches now off the table, the company’s remaining employees are set to be let go as operations wind down over the coming weeks.
Perhaps the biggest winner is Rocket Lab — for $16 million they secured Virgin Orbit’s primary manufacturing site (including the equipment within), which happens to be less than a mile away from the company’s headquarters in Long Beach, California. Between Rocket Lab’s growing manifest of future launches and the
development of their next-generation Neutron rocket
, an expansion to their existing facilities at a cut-rate price couldn’t come at a better time.
Stratolaunch Systems, a company which itself has flirted with financial ruin since the 2018 death of founder Paul Allen, purchased
Virgin Orbit’s modified Boeing 747 carrier aircraft
Cosmic Girl
for $17 million. At first glance this might seem surprising, given the fact that Stratolaunch is already in possession of the
far larger and more capable Roc aircraft
that was specifically designed for air-launching rockets. But as the company is in the process of
relaunching itself as a provider of hypersonic flight test services
, they’ll presumably be expanding their operations to include smaller payloads that can be offloaded onto the 747.
Finally, the relatively new startup Launcher has taken possession of Virgin Orbit’s test facility in Mojave, California. For $2.7 million, the company gets a hangar, the equipment inside of it, and rocket engine test stands.
Launcher was acquired earlier this year by another startup, Vast,
with the merged companies set to work on engines, spacecraft, and eventually, their own private space station. Interestingly
Reuters is reporting that
Virgin Orbit decided not to sell the engines used in the company’s LauncherOne rocket, and that the company is still debating what they’ll do with the remaining hardware.
Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne
With investors tripping over themselves to stake a claim in the rapidly growing New Space market, it’s surprising to see a launch provider with a relatively successful track record go under. Reports before the company filed for bankruptcy estimated they only needed about $200 million to stay afloat and continue operations — a fairly meager sum in the aerospace game.
Then again, with all these agile space startups to chose from, perhaps investors thought that dumping more money into a company struggling to make a relatively outdated launch technology competitive in an era of high-tech reusable rockets simply looked like a losing hand. | 19 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6646596",
"author": "ono",
"timestamp": "2023-05-25T11:11:49",
"content": "Schadenfreude !",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6646603",
"author": "RichC",
"timestamp": "2023-05-25T11:58:31",
"content": "I wonder why the... | 1,760,372,288.219578 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/25/adding-variometer-functionality-to-gps/ | Adding Variometer Functionality To A GPS | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"altitude",
"atmega328",
"barometric pressure",
"firmware",
"flight",
"flying",
"gps",
"instrumentation",
"microcontroller",
"variometer"
] | Flying a glider, or similarly piloting a paraglider or hang glider, can all be pathways into aviation with a lower barrier of entry than powered flight. Sacrificing one’s engine does generate a few complexities, but can be rewarding as the pilot searches for various means of increasing altitude like ridge soaring or thermaling. You’ll need a special instrument called a variometer to know just how much altitude you’re gaining though, like
this one which is built into commercially-available handheld GPS units
.
These GPS units are normally intended for use on terra firma only, but [Oganisyan] has figured out a clever way to add this flight instrumentation to these units to help when operating a paraglider. An ATmega328 paired with a pressure sensor is added to the inside of the GPS units and communicates with an available serial interface within the units. To complete the modification, a patched firmware must be installed which adds the variometer function to the display. This upgrade is compatible with a handful of GPS units as well such as the BikePilot2+ or Falk Tiger.
For those who already own one of these GPS units, this could be a cost-effective way of obtaining a variometer, especially since commercially-available variometers tailored for this sort of application can cost around $200 to $500. It is an activity sensitive to cost, though, as it offers a much more affordable option for taking to the skies than any powered craft could, with an exception made for
this powered paraglider
which offers the ability for powered take off and flight extension using electric-powered props.
Thanks to [MartinO] for the tip! | 10 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6646570",
"author": "Hephaix",
"timestamp": "2023-05-25T08:29:17",
"content": "This is a nice idea but you should be very confident in your engineering skills and engenering skills of the firmware developper to use this device. Usually, flight instruments are extensively tested and ... | 1,760,372,288.725862 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/24/glass-robot-from-a-solarpunk-future/ | Glass Robot From A Solarpunk Future | Navarre Bartz | [
"Art",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"robots",
"simone giertz",
"solarpunk",
"stained glass",
"tea"
] | You may have heard of a heart of glass or have a glass jaw, but have you ever seen a
glass robot
?
[Simone Giertz], has taken two of her favorite things, stained glass and robotics, and fused them into a single project. Using an existing metal robot arm as a template, she cut and soldered her stained glass panels before reassembling the robot with its new solarpunk limbs. During testing though, one of the glass panels repeatedly failed at a solder joint.
Undaunted, [Giertz] replaced the faulty piece with an original metal component allowing this “grandma cyberpunk-core” bot to prepare tea as intended. We really love when makers bring us through the whole process, mishaps and all, and [Giertz] never disappoints in this respect. We do wonder a bit about the long-term health impacts of making tea with a robot containing
leaded solder
though.
If you’re interested in more robots made from unusual materials, checkout this
gripper made from a dead spider
or
this work on phase changing robots
. | 5 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6646618",
"author": "robomonkey",
"timestamp": "2023-05-25T13:33:39",
"content": "Wonder if she’d be interested in using the fiberglass variants of stained glass. Not sure how many colors they have and if the look is the same, but the strength would be better.Perhaps also consider ... | 1,760,372,288.673047 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/24/3d-printing-bio-inspired-microphone-designs-based-on-moth-ears/ | 3D Printing Bio-Inspired Microphone Designs Based On Moth Ears | Maya Posch | [
"Science"
] | [
"Biomimetics",
"signal processing"
] | If many millions of years of evolution is good for anything, it is to develop microscopic structures that perform astounding tasks, such as the marvelous biology of insects. One of these structures are the ears of the lesser wax moth (
Achroia grisella
), whose mating behavior involves ultrasonic mating calls. These can attract the bats which hunt them, leading to these moths having evolved directional hearing that can pinpoint not only a potential mate, but also bat calling sound.
What’s most astounding about this is that these moths that only live about a week as an adult can perform auditory feats that we generally require an entire microphone array for, along with a lot of audio processing. The key that enables these moths to perform these feats lies in their eardrum, or tympanum. Rather than the taut, flat surface as with mammals, these feature intricate 3D structures along with pores that seem to perform much of the directional processing, and this is what researchers have been
trying to replicate
for a while, including a team of researchers at the University of Strathclyde.
To create these artificial tympanums, the researchers used a flexible hydrogel, with a piezoelectric material that converts the acoustic energy into electric signals, connected to electrical traces. The 3D features are printed on this, mixed with methanol that forms droplets inside the curing resin, before being expelled and leaving the desired pores. One limitation is that currently used printers have a limited resolution of about 200 micrometers, which doesn’t cover the full features of the insect’s tympanum.
Assuming this can be made to work, it could be used for everything from cochlear implants to anywhere else that has a great deal of audio processing that needs downsizing.
(Heading image: Mapping of the displacement of a tympanum of the lesser wax moth (Achroia grisella). (Credit: Andrew Reid) ) | 5 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6646529",
"author": "KSanger",
"timestamp": "2023-05-25T02:52:17",
"content": "UV curable rubbers like the Kodak Flexcel NX printing plate might be able to provide the resolution and flexibility needed.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment... | 1,760,372,289.210546 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/24/automatic-coin-sorter-brings-order-to-your-coin-jar/ | Automatic Coin Sorter Brings Order To Your Coin Jar | Dan Maloney | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"bowl feeder",
"cash",
"coins",
"counter",
"euro",
"sorter"
] | Few things hold as much promise as the old coin jar. Unfortunately, what’s generally promised is tedium, as one faces the prospect of manually sorting, counting, and rolling the accumulated change of cash transactions past. Unless, of course, you’ve got
a fancy automatic coin sorter like this one
.
True, many banks have automatic coin sorters, but you generally have to be a paying customer to use one. And there’s always Coinstar and similar kiosks, but they always find a way to extract a fee, one way or another. [Fraens] decided not to fall for either of those traps and roll his own machine, largely from 3D-printed parts. The basic mechanism is similar to that used in commercial coin counters, with an angled bowl rotating over an array of holes sized to fit various coins. Holes in the bottom of the feed bowl accept coins fed from a hopper and transport them up to the coin holes. The smallest coins fall out of the bowl first, followed by the bigger coins; each coin drops into a separate bin after passing through an optical sensor to count the number of each on an Arduino. Subtotals and a grand total of the haul are displayed on a small LCD screen. The video below shows the build and the sorter in operation.
[Fraens] built this sorter specifically for Euro coins, but it should be easy enough to modify the sorting slots for different currencies. It’s not the first coin sorter we’ve seen, of course, and while we applaud its design simplicity and efficient operation, it can’t hold a candle to the style of
this decidedly less practical approach
. | 20 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6646504",
"author": "Don Latham",
"timestamp": "2023-05-24T23:20:48",
"content": "And, when you take the neat rools to the nank, they break them open and count them over again…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6646514",
... | 1,760,372,289.530308 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/24/battery-bot-makes-sure-cordless-tool-packs-are-always-topped-up/ | Battery Bot Makes Sure Cordless Tool Packs Are Always Topped Up | Dan Maloney | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"arduino",
"automation",
"battery",
"charger",
"cordless",
"lead screw",
"pack"
] | There was a time not that long ago when every tool was cordless. But now, cordless power tools have proliferated to the point where the mere thought of using a plain old wrist-twisting screwdriver is enough to trigger a bout of sympathetic repetitive injury. And the only thing worse than that is to discover that the batteries for your tools are all dead.
As [Lance] from the “Sparks and Code” channel freely admits, the fact that his impressive collection of batteries is always dead is entirely his fault, and that’s what inspired
his automatic battery charging robot
. The design is pretty clever; depleted batteries go into a hopper, under which is a 3D-printed sled. Batteries drop down into the sled, which runs the battery out from under the hopper to the charging station, which is just the guts of an old manual charger attached to a lead screw to adjust the height of the charging terminals for different size batteries. When the battery is charged, the sled pushes it a little further into an outfeed hopper before going back to get another battery from the infeed side.
Of course, that all vastly understates the amount of work [Lance] had to put into this. He suffered through a lot of “integration hell” problems, like getting the charger properly connected to the Arduino running the automation. But with a lot of tweaking, he can now just dump in a bunch of depleted packs and let the battery bot handle everything. The video after the break shows all the gory details.
Of course, there’s
another completely different and much simpler solution
to the dead battery problem. | 19 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6646458",
"author": "m1ke",
"timestamp": "2023-05-24T20:33:08",
"content": "That was satisfying.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6646472",
"author": "real",
"timestamp": "2023-05-24T21:11:19",
"content": "Now that he... | 1,760,372,289.585503 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/24/own-more-than-one-scope-youve-got-nothing-on-this-guy/ | Own More Than One ‘Scope? You’ve Got Nothing On This Guy! | Jenny List | [
"History",
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"oscilloscope",
"oscilloscope history",
"test equipment"
] | We’re guessing that quite a few of our readers have a surprising amount of redundant test gear, and we ourselves have to admit that more than one instrument adorns our benches. But we are mere dilettantes, amateurs if you will, compared to [Volke Kloke].
He’s got 350 of them in his average American home
, and we have to say, among them are some beauties.
The linked newspaper article is sometimes frustratingly light on the details, but fortunately
he has a website all of his own
where we can all get immersed in the details. Of particular interest is an instrument which doesn’t even have a CRT, the
General Radio 338 string oscillograph
used a mirror drum to catch a standing wave in a tungsten wire, but there are plenty more. Is your first ‘scope among them?
As we now live in the age of cheap digital ‘scopes, at any surplus sale you’ll see plenty of CRT-based instruments going for relative pennies. Of those, the more recent and high-end ones are still extremely useful instruments, and it’s not just misty-eyed reminiscing to say that they remain a worthy addition to any bench.
Want to know about early ‘scope tech?
We’ve taken a look before
. | 18 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6646417",
"author": "Tony M.",
"timestamp": "2023-05-24T18:52:42",
"content": "Anyone knows a link to a video showing the string thing in action?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6646599",
"author": "Cole",
"tim... | 1,760,372,289.267601 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/24/linux-fu-making-progress/ | Linux Fu: Making Progress | Al Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Linux Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"command line",
"linux"
] | The computer world looks different from behind a TeleType or other hardcopy terminal. Things that tend to annoy people about Unix or Linux these days were perfectly great when you were printing everything the computer said to you. Consider the brevity of most basic commands. When you copy a file, for example, it doesn’t really tell you much other than it returns you to the prompt when it is done. If you are on a modern computer working with normal-sized files locally, not a big deal. But if you are over a slow network or with huge files, it would be nice to have a progress bar. Sure, you could write your own version of copy, but wouldn’t it be nice to have some more generic options?
One Way
The
pv
program can do some of the things you want. It monitors data through a pipe or, at least through its standard output. Think of it as
cat
with a meter. Suppose you want to write a diskimage to
/dev/sdz
:
cat diskz.img >/dev/sdz
But you could also do:
pv diskz.img >/dev/sdz
By default, pv will show a progress bar, an elapsed time, an estimated end time, a rate, and a total number of bytes. You can turn any of that off or add things using command line options. You can also specify things like the size of the terminal if it should count lines instead of bytes, and, in the case where the program doesn’t know what it is reading, the expected size of the transfer.
Of course, the output of
pv
is to
stderr
so it shows up on the screen. This makes it tricky if you want to use it with something like dialog that wants the
stdout
to be the progress indication. Luckily, you can redirect
stderr
to
stdout
and then redirect
stdout
to a file. Just be sure to do it in that order. For example:
pv -n /tmp/bigfile.iso 2>&1 >/tmp/bigfile.iso.backup | dialog --gauge "Copy Progress" 10 60
Another Way
There is also
progress
. It looks around for programs running like
cp
,
mv
,
dd
, and many more, looks at their open files, and shows you progress information for those programs. It only does this once, so you’ll typically marry it with the watch command or use the
-M
option. You can also monitor arbitrary programs with a little help. For example, suppose you have a big download in firefox:
watch progress -c firefox
Actually, if you are like me and have more than 32 instances of firefox running, that’s going to fail, but you get the idea.
The progress program can also take a pipe, but it still only monitors processes it knows about unless you use
-c
. You can add to the list with the
-a
option. For example:
tar czf /tmp/books.tgz ~/library/ebooks | progress -m
Results in:
A long tar command
Note that since
gzip
is one of the programs that progress knows about, it shows up on the list, too. You could, of course, tell it to only look for
tar
with
-c
.
As Usual
As usual with Linux, there are always many ways to do anything. If you are a masochist, you could use
ptrace
to look inside a program and figure things out from there. You could also do the same trick that
progress
does and look through a program’s
/proc
entries.
If you want to add a progress bar to your shell scripts directly, try
gum
. Or maybe combine progress
with widgets
to put the result on your desktop? | 12 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6646399",
"author": "M_B",
"timestamp": "2023-05-24T17:46:35",
"content": "Neato and handy. Will be trying this out later",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6646429",
"author": "willmore",
"timestamp": "2023-05-24T19:22:08"... | 1,760,372,289.382786 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/24/new-zealands-first-microcomputer-may-be-this-1802/ | New Zealand’s First Microcomputer May Be This 1802 | Al Williams | [
"Interviews",
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"1802",
"New Zealand",
"RCA 1802",
"retrocomputing"
] | Hardware hackers of a certain age likely got started with microcontrollers via the RCA 1802 — a relatively easy-to-use processor that was the subject of several excellent articles in
Popular Electronics
magazine back in the late 1970s. [Al’s Geek Lab] has an interview with [Hugh Anderson], who saw the articles and eventually designed the HUG1802, which may be the first microcontroller kit designed and sold in New Zealand.
The 1802 was very attractive at the time since it was inexpensive, static, didn’t require exotic voltages, and had a DMA system that allowed you to load software without complex ROMs. He initially marketed a kit unsuccessfully until an Australian company convinced him to create a proper PC board — the resulting kit was sold to about 100 customers.
The HUG1802 reminded us somewhat of the Quest Super Elf since it had a keypad, a cassette interface, and even a TV output. The 1802 had a DMA-enabled chip that made crude memory-mapped video output. The computer eventually morphed into the ETI 660, which they talk about at the end of the interview.
A lot of people
built 1802 computers
back in those days. If you
don’t have an 1802
, but you have an Arduino… ell, there’s always emulation. | 13 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6646344",
"author": "Michael Black",
"timestamp": "2023-05-24T15:51:45",
"content": "Wern’t the articles in Popular Electronics written by someone at RCA, maybe the 1802 designer?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6646350",
... | 1,760,372,289.322239 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/24/the-art-and-science-of-making-beautiful-transparent-ice/ | The Art And Science Of Making Beautiful Transparent Ice | Lewin Day | [
"Featured",
"Interest",
"Misc Hacks",
"Original Art",
"Slider"
] | [
"clear ice",
"ghost ice",
"ice",
"ice ball",
"ice sphere",
"spherical ice",
"transparent ice"
] | For most of us, ice isn’t something we’ve thought about in detail since our high school science classes. For most of us, we pour some tap water into the ice trays, slam it in the freezer, and forget about it. Then we lob the frozen misshapen cubes into a beer and enjoy a quite literally ice-cold beverage.
However, there’s so much more fun to be had with ice if you really get into it. If you’ve ever wondered how pretentious cocktail bars make their fancy ice spheres or transparent cubes, read on!
Heading In The Right Direction
You may have noticed that your ice cubes are clearer at the edges and cloudiest in the middle. Credit: Lewin Day
Clear ice is the hallmark of any swanky institution; it’s far more luxurious and visually-appealing than the cloudy stuff that comes out of our domestic freezers. As it turns out, though, it only requires a basic understanding of the freezing process to make your own clear ice at home. If you know why the ice comes out frosty, cloudy, and ugly, you can counteract that to get prettier results.
Ice cubes tend to look all cloudy because of the way they freeze. The water we use to make ice has impurities and air bubbles in it. When placed into an ice cube tray, the water starts freezing from the top, bottom, and sides all at once. As it begins to freeze, the trapped air and impurities get pushed away from the frozen section and towards the center of the cube. This creates an ice cube that’s somewhat clear on the outside with a particularly cloudy center. You might have noticed that sometimes when your ice cubes start to melt, they’re clear on the outer sections and most opaque in the middle.
You may have heard of tricks to make clear ice by pulling all the air out or using distilled water, but it’s actually entirely unnecessary to use such pure water. Instead, the trick to clear ice is to pursue a technique called
“directional freezing.”
By getting the ice to freeze in one singular direction, the impurities in the water are all pushed to one end of the resulting cube. This creates a mostly-clear ice cube with a small section at the end that’s opaque due to trapped air and impurities. In fact, if the cube is removed from the freezer before it’s completely frozen, you can get a completely clear cube with some water left in the bottom.
Perhaps the easiest way to try this is to put a drink cooler in a large freezer, fill it with water, and leave the top open. The open top and insulated means that the water will freeze from the top down, in one direction. This tends to create a clear slab of ice with only the last quarter or so being cloudy and opaque.
Ice trays are available
that use the same technique
. It’s as simple as insulating the tray from the sides and bottom, ensuring that the cold air from the freezer gets the top of the tray coldest. The ice then forms from the top down, with only the bottom of the cubes showing the usual cloudiness. The trays sometimes feature an overflow reservoir at the bottom that allows the impurities to leave out the bottom of the tray to create more perfectly clear cubes. Combining these techniques with cleaner water with less air content can net even better results, but typically, just getting the directional freezing happening is enough.
Get Around It
The best spherical ice molds have a reservoir at the bottom that helps make clear ice. Credit:
Amazon
Maybe clear ice isn’t enough for you, and you want to up your game. Ice spheres are a common way to add some pop to a mixed drink, and are fun to marvel at and jiggle around in a glass.
There are a few ways to make ice spheres, particularly clear ones. A simple technique involves using
a spherical mold
placed on top of a thermos. Both the thermos and mold are filled with water. The mold has a small hole in the bottom, and is placed on top of the insulated container. Much like with the cubes, the water in the uninsulated mold freezes first, with the impurities pushed out the bottom hole into the water in the thermos, which remains liquid for longer.
However, mold-based methods incur a significant aesthetic penalty in the form of a seam line. It’s possible to rub these off with some body heat, but true efficiency-heads abhor fussy post-processing steps and irregular spheres. If you want a truly perfect ice sphere, you need to get yourself
an ice ball mold
. These consist of two metal halves with a machined spherical cavity inside. The two halves are heated slightly, and a large hunk of ice is placed in between. The heat of the metal gradually melts away the unwanted parts of the ice as the top half slowly works its way down under gravity. The top half moves down along machined metal rods to ensure it stays true. As the two halves come together, you’re left with a perfect ice sphere inside. If you used clear ice, it’s transparent, too.
An ice ball mold can turn a simple block of ice into a perfect sphere. Credit:
Popular Science, 1874, public domain
Spherical molds do have benefits of their own, too. They can make it easy to add
flashy garnishes
like cherries or flowers inside your ice spheres. In a particularly impressive feat, we’ve even seen
a spiral-cut lime skin
delicately frozen into a clear ice ball. If you’re looking for a way to justify charging $50 for a cocktail, this is it.
Kitchen Fun
Ice may seem like a humble, mundane thing. However, with a few simple tools and an understanding of the science, it’s possible to create some really beautiful effects for cocktails, desserts, or just learning about the world. Some fields of research are inaccessible for the home gamer, but playing with ice is a great way to indulge a passion for science in even the most jaded water enthusiast. | 43 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6646290",
"author": "Scott",
"timestamp": "2023-05-24T14:16:32",
"content": "Juat FYI, no one in Australia puts ice in their beer",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6646296",
"author": "Juat F.Y. Ingle",
"timestam... | 1,760,372,289.473433 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/24/hall-sensors-offer-drop-in-replacement-for-drifting-game-console-joysticks/ | Hall Sensors Offer Drop-In Replacement For Drifting Game Console Joysticks | Dan Maloney | [
"Games",
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"AS5600",
"hall effect",
"Joystick",
"neodymium",
"planned obsolescence",
"potentiometer",
"shaft angle"
] | No bananas were harmed in the making of
this Hall effect drift-proof joystick replacement
. OK, not really — two bananas were turned to mush. But it’s OK, they’re just bananas, after all.
Why bananas, you ask? Because [Marius Heier] uses them to demonstrate what we all intuitively know — that rubbing something over and over again tends to wear it away — but engineers seem to have forgotten. Wear such as this, with resistance material rather than fruits, is what causes the dreaded drift, a problem that the world collectively spends $20 billion a year dealing with, according to [Marius].
While numbers like that seem to be firmly in class-action lawsuit territory, sometimes it’s best to take matters into your own hands and not wait for the courts. The fix [Marius] shows here is to yank the potentiometers off a PS4 joystick and replace them with contactless Hall effect sensors. The end of the shaft for each axis gets a diametral neodymium magnet attached to it, while a 3D printed bracket holds a tiny custom PCB in close proximity. The PCB has an AS5600 Hall sensor, which translates the shaft angle to an analog voltage output. After programming the chip over its I2C bus, the sensor outputs a voltage proportional to the angle of each shaft, just like the original pots, but without all the wear and tear.
While [Marius] is selling these as drop-in replacements for PS4 controllers, he plans to release all the design files so you can build one yourself. He also has his sights set on replacements for PS5 and Xbox controllers, so watch for those. This isn’t his first foray into joystick hacking, having shared
his 3D Hall effect and haptic feedback joysticks
with us previously. | 46 | 12 | [
{
"comment_id": "6646222",
"author": "mesia",
"timestamp": "2023-05-24T11:24:52",
"content": "There’s an even simpler solution. Don’t buy consoles, don’t play video games. Life is much better when you don’t waste it on corporate entertainment.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": ... | 1,760,372,289.66892 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/24/simulated-et-to-phone-home-from-mars-this-afternoon/ | Simulated ET To Phone Home From Mars This Afternoon | Al Williams | [
"News",
"Science",
"Space"
] | [
"alien",
"mars",
"SETI"
] | In science fiction movies, communicating with aliens is easy. In real life, though, we think it will be tough. Today, you’ll get your chance to see
how
tough when a SETI project uses the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter to
send a simulated alien message to the Earth
. The transmission is scheduled to happen at 1900 UTC and, of course, the signal will take about 16 minutes to arrive here on planet Earth. You can see a video about the project,
A Sign in Space,
below.
You don’t need to receive the message yourself. That will be the job of observatories at the SETI Institute, the Green Bank Observatory, and the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics. They’ll make the signal available to everyone, and you can join others on Discord or work solo and
submit your interpretation of the message
.
Drake’s message properly arranged
There are a host of issues involved in alien communication. What communication medium will they use? How will they encode their message? Will the message even make sense? Imagine an engineer from 1910 trying to find, decode, and understand an ad on FM radio station 107.9. First, they’d have to find the signal. Then figure out FM modulation. Then they’d probably wonder what the phrase “smartphone” could possibly mean.
When [Frank Drake] created a test message to send to aliens via the Arecibo dish,
almost no one could decode it
unless they already knew how it worked. But even looking at the message in the accompanying image, you probably can only puzzle out some of it. Don’t forget; this message was created by another human.
If you want a foreshadowing of how hard this is, you can try
decoding the bitstream yourself
. Of course, that page assumes you already figured out that the stream of bits is, in fact, a stream of bits and that it should be set in an image pattern. You also have the advantage of knowing what the right answer looks like. It could easily become an extraterrestrial Rorschach test where you find patterns and meaning in every permutation of bits.
Speaking of the Drake message, it saddens us to think that
Arecibo is gone
. The closest we think we’ve come to intercepting alien messages is
the Wow signal
. | 31 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6646197",
"author": "m1ke",
"timestamp": "2023-05-24T10:17:58",
"content": "Can’t wait to see some radio telescope operators jump out of their seat when they receive the signal, only to be let down when they hear “you didn’t get the memo?”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,372,289.739653 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/23/commodore-64-upgrade-in-modern-package/ | Commodore 64 Upgrade In Modern Package | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"6502",
"8 bit",
"commander x16",
"commodore",
"fpga",
"modern",
"nes",
"retrocomputing",
"vera"
] | While the Commodore 64 was an immensely popular computer for its time, and still remains a strong favorite within the retrocomputing community, there’s a reason we’re not using modern Commodore-branded computers today. Intense competition, company mismanagement, and advancing beyond 8-bit computers too late in the game all led to the company’s eventual downfall. But if you’re still a Commodore enthusiast and always wished you were able to get an upgraded C64, you might want to take a look at
the Commander X16, a modern take on this classic computer
.
We’ve actually seen
the Commander X16 before
, but this was back in its early days of prototyping and design. This video from [Adrian’s Digital Basement], also linked below the break, takes a look at how it’s come in the four years since [David Murray] started this project. At its core, it’s an 8-bit 6502-based computer like you’d find in the 1980s but built with new components. There are some more modern updates as well such as the ability to use an SD card as well as built-in SNES controller ports, but the real magic here is the VERA module. Built around an FPGA, this module handles graphics, some of the audio, and the storage capabilities and does all of these things much better than the original Commodore, while still being faithful to what made these computer great.
While the inclusion of the FPGA might offend some of the most staunch 8-bit purists, it turns out to be necessary due to the lack of off-the-shelf video chips and really makes this build shine in the end. It’s also capable of running 6502-based software from other machines too, including the original NES. The VERA module makes it possible to run other software too, including a sample of Sonic the Hedgehog from the Sega Genesis which [Adrian] demonstrates in his video. 6502-based computers are quite versatile as the Commander X16 demonstrates, and it’s even possible
to build a rudimentary 6502 on a breadboard with just a few parts
. | 50 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "6646064",
"author": "ono",
"timestamp": "2023-05-24T05:32:49",
"content": "I expect the price of this huge board to be over 1000USD. They sell the keyboard for over 200USD.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6646278",
"au... | 1,760,372,289.942093 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/23/keeping-the-noise-down-under-the-sea/ | Keeping The Noise Down Under The Sea | Navarre Bartz | [
"green hacks",
"Science"
] | [
"bubble curtain",
"marine",
"marine propulsion",
"noise pollution",
"ocean",
"offshore",
"offshore wind",
"plankton",
"propeller",
"subsea",
"undersea",
"whales"
] | Since sound is the primary sense used by most ocean life, disruptions to the natural noise levels in the ocean from human activities can be particularly problematic for marine life. [DW Planet A] has a video describing some of the ways we can
mitigate these disruptions
to our friends under the sea.
Being noisy neighbors isn’t just a problem for whales but for everything down to the plankton at the base of the food web. Underwater construction like offshore wind installations
get flak for being noisy
, but technologies like
bubble curtains
can reduce noise output by up to 90% to the surrounding waters while still getting those nice low carbon energy benefits that prevent further ocean acidification and warming.
Cargo ship propellers are a trickier proposition due to their mobile nature, but work by shipping company Maersk shows a simple retrofit can minimize cavitation bubbles from propellers, saving fuel and reducing sound output by 75%. While companies are unlikely to install these retrofits on their own, they could be done during a ship’s normally scheduled time in dry dock. We wonder if
toroidal propellers
could help here as well.
Unsurprisingly, the worst offender for this problem is the oil and gas industry. Using seismic air guns to blast sound to search for fossil fuel deposits below the seabed, these rigs can instantly kill plankton and cause disruptions at long range. Fossil majors have started investing in marine vibroseis, a more subtle vibration technique that is also useful in shallower waters than the seismic air guns. This could again reduce impacts on marine life by 90% compared to current methods. As the energy transition continues, this impact will be reduced by 100% when exploration for marine fossil fuels ends.
If bubble curtains sound familiar, you may remember their use in containing detonation of unexploded ordinance during the construction of the
Nord Stream 2 Pipeline
, a very different type of subsea infrastructure project. We also have something for you if you’re more interested in
tracking man-made objects
(subs) underwater. | 13 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6645967",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2023-05-24T02:58:40",
"content": "Can’t keep a pulse jet running underwater anyhow. :-(It sucks as boat propulsion, light weight no advantage on water. Still ‘100% efficient’.Perhaps a pulsejet powered surfboard, not going to be doing anythi... | 1,760,372,289.99212 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/23/gyroscope-walks-the-tightrope/ | Gyroscope Walks The Tightrope | Danie Conradie | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"balancing robot",
"flywheel",
"gyroscope"
] | Gyroscopes are one of those physics phenomena that are a means to many ends, but can also enjoyed as a fascinating object in their own right. Case and point being [Hyperspace Pirate]’s
tightrope-balancing crawler
in the video after the break.
Inside the PLA and aluminum shell is a 3D-printed wheel with steel bolts around the edge for added moment of inertia. It is powered by a low-KV brushless motor with a 3:1 GT2 belt-drive and controlled by a simple servo tester, running on a 4 cell LiPo battery. The 3D-printed drive wheel is powered by a geared DC motor hooked directly to the battery. [Hyperspace Pirate] goes over the math of the design, showing that path to stability is a high speed and high moment of inertia flywheel, while staying well within the strength limits of the wheel’s material.
It’s balancing act was first demonstrated on a length of PVC conduit and then on a section of rope, with the characteristic circular wobbling of a gyroscope, known as gyroscopic precession. Without active correction, this the angle of procession will steadily increase until the machine falls over. Even so, it’s still great to watch a small scale version, like the one that inspired this build, would make a pretty cool desk toy.
Gyroscopes are commonly used in
attitude indicators
and and
heading indicators
in aircraft, and we’ve also seen them get used for
balancing robots
. Any ideas for practical uses for a mono-wheel rail/rope walker? Drop them in the comments below. | 13 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6645772",
"author": "cliff claven",
"timestamp": "2023-05-23T23:18:03",
"content": "https://xkcd.com/332/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6646142",
"author": "Ewald",
"timestamp": "2023-05-24T07:24:34",
... | 1,760,372,290.041872 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/23/handle-sheet-metal-with-the-power-of-microwave-oven-electromagnets/ | Handle Sheet Metal With The Power Of Microwave Oven Electromagnets | Dan Maloney | [
"Tool Hacks"
] | [
"electromagnet",
"material handling",
"microwave oven transformer",
"MOT",
"sheet metal"
] | For those of us who don’t do it every day, handling sheet metal can be a nerve-wracking affair. Sheet metal is thin, heavy, and sharp, and one wrong move while handling it can have much the same result as other such objects, like guillotine blades. If only there was a way to lessen the danger.
Perhaps something like
this electromagnetic sheet metal handler
by [Lucas] over at “Cranktown City” would be useful in keeping one’s fingers and toes attached. Like many interesting builds, this one starts with the dismemberment of a couple of old microwave ovens, to liberate their transformers. Further dissection resulted in open-frame electromagnets, which when energized with a battery from a Ryobi cordless tool do a fine job sticking to stuff.
[Lucas] then harvested the battery connector from the cheapest possible Ryobi tool — an electric fan — and built a prototype, which worked well enough to proceed to a more polished version two. This one had the same guts in a nicely designed case, 3D-printed from lime green filament for that OEM look. The video below shows the design and build, as well as field testing. We have to say this gave us a bit of pause, especially when the battery popped out of one of the handlers and sent the sheet on a near-miss of [Lucas]’ toes. Close call there.
If you’re thinking that you’ve seen MOTs repurposed as electromagnets before, you’re right. Whether
climbing like [Spider-Man]
,
lifting heavy steel beams
, or
walking upside down
, microwave oven transformers are the key.
Thanks to [Zane Atkins] for the tip. | 17 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6645676",
"author": "Makemon69",
"timestamp": "2023-05-23T20:52:06",
"content": "You could use an gloves, but tbh this is much more awesome",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6645715",
"author": "cliff",
"timestamp": "2023-... | 1,760,372,290.092513 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/23/bike-camper-with-retro-flair/ | Bike Camper With Retro Flair | Navarre Bartz | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"bike camper",
"bike camping",
"camper",
"camping"
] | As we’re approaching summer here in the Northern Hemisphere, thoughts naturally turn toward road trips. While most people do this in their car, the [Dangie Bros]
built a 500 lb bike camper
for their own take on the great American Road Trip.
Taking a maximalist approach not seen in most bike campers, this behemoth has a working sink, propane stove, seating area, and an upstairs sleeping area. A small window in the front of the camper opens to let the passenger inside converse with the person pedaling, and a solar panel charges a small battery for lights and a roof fan.
While the camper is very ’70s retro-chic, its lack of assist (other than the passenger getting out to push) meant that on the second day of their road trip they resorted to towing the camper behind a second bike in a pseudo-tandem arrangement. The fold out bed takes some design cues from RVs, but clearly needed more reinforcement since it collapsed partway through the night. With an e-assist and some refinements, this could be comfortable (albeit slow) way to go bike
glamping
.
If you’d like to try your own hand at a bike camper but do it more aerodynamically and attached to an assisted bike, checkout this
teardrop trailer
or this
bike camper
. | 33 | 17 | [
{
"comment_id": "6645649",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2023-05-23T19:01:15",
"content": "Should weld another bike to the front, add a crossbar to link the steering, and do a chariot tandem type of thing. And for God’s sake, if you’re going to have a propane stove and kitchen sink you may as well t... | 1,760,372,290.167853 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/23/remote-controlled-hypercar-slices-through-air/ | Remote-Controlled Hypercar Slices Through Air | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"3d printed",
"aerodynamics",
"design",
"g force",
"high speed",
"rc",
"remote controlled",
"torque vectoring",
"vehicle"
] | Almost all entry-level physics courses, and even some well into a degree program, will have the student make some assumptions in order to avoid some complex topics later on. Most commonly this is something to the effect of “ignore the effects of wind resistance” which can make an otherwise simple question in math several orders of magnitude more difficult. At some point, though, wind resistance can’t be ignored any more
like when building this remote-controlled car designed for extremely high speeds
.
[Indeterminate Design] has been working on this project for a while now, and it’s quite a bit beyond the design of most other RC cars we’ve seen before. The design took into account extreme aerodynamics to help the car generate not only the downforce needed to keep the tires in contact with the ground, but to keep the car stable in high-speed turns thanks to its custom 3D printed body. There is a suite of high-speed sensors on board as well which help control the vehicle including four-wheel independent
torque vectoring
, allowing for precise control of each wheel. During initial tests the car has demonstrated its ability to corner at 2.6 lateral G, a 250% increase in corning speed over the same car without the aid of aerodynamics.
We’ve linked the playlist to the entire build log above, but be sure to take a look at the video linked after the break which goes into detail about the car’s aerodynamic design specifically. [Indeterminate Design] notes that it’s still very early in the car’s development, but has already exceeded the original expectations for the build. There are also some scaled-up vehicles capable of transporting people
which have gone to extremes in aerodynamic design
to take a look at as well. | 17 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6645660",
"author": "craig",
"timestamp": "2023-05-23T19:31:37",
"content": "Kinda surprised it’s “only” 2.6 lateral G, spitballin but I think F1 pulls like 4 lateral G and considering how, relatively, this car has no mass and essentially an epic power:weight ratio. Didn’t watch vid... | 1,760,372,290.6269 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/21/weve-got-a-saxaboom-at-home-son/ | We’ve Got A Saxaboom At Home Son | Matthew Carlson | [
"Musical Hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"3d printed musical instruments",
"ESP32",
"saxaboom"
] | Most parents have heard a familiar story. Their lovely child comes up, having seen a celebrity rocking out with a funny $20 toy from the 80s, and asks for it. Of course, you reply, it’s just 20 dollars. However, a quick scan through eBay reveals that everyone else’s kid has also been asking for this obscure toy for a school event, which now costs around $700. [Ben] found himself in that exact position and made a crucial off-hand comment, “I bet I could make one of those.” That was how
his hectic journey into the world of toy reproduction
began.
All [Ben] had for reference when recreating a Sax-A-Boom were pictures and sound clips. Modeling complex sweeping shapes in CAD is difficult, and [Ben] commissioned a 3d model from a professional on Fiverr. [Ben] broke down the model into printable sections and tweaked it to account for buttons. After a concerning amount of putty, wet sanding, and elbow grease, [Ben] had a decently smooth body for an instrument. The device’s guts is an ESP32-based board called Sonatino, built around music generation. The music samples came from a virtual instrument clone on GitHub and loaded onto an SD card.
Time pressure crept in towards the end, and [Ben] had to go for some dirty solution that he would have preferred (popsicle sticks and epoxy for button mounting). Yes, there were some gaps and paint flaws, but ultimately [Ben’s] son rocked the school presentation. It’s a beautiful journey through creating something with a high level of finish on a limited timescale.
Perhaps future versions of the Sax-A-Boom can take it further by adding a breath sensor, like
this 3d printed MIDI instrument. | 6 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6645062",
"author": "70sJukebox",
"timestamp": "2023-05-22T08:39:30",
"content": "IIRC these things became unobtanium after Jack Black used one in a live part of Tenacious D shows.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6645095",
"... | 1,760,372,290.771623 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/21/watch-a-web-page-fetch-itself-over-tls-complete-with-commentary/ | Watch A Web Page Fetch Itself Over TLS, Complete With Commentary | Donald Papp | [
"Security Hacks",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"annotated",
"binary",
"https",
"javascript",
"tls"
] | TLS, byte by byte
performs an unusual and interesting function: it fetches
itself
over
HTTPS
, and provides a complete annotation of what’s going on in the process, one byte at a time. Visit the site and give the button a click to watch it happen, it’s neat!
Transport Layer Security (
TLS
) is what’s responsible for encrypting traffic over the internet, and it’s normally implemented on top of TCP to encrypt an application-layer protocol like HTTP (resulting in HTTPS and the little padlock icon in browsers indicating a connection with a web site is encrypted.) Back in the day, traffic over the internet was commonly unencrypted, but nowadays
no communication or hardware is too humble for encryption
and methods are easily accessible.
So for what purpose would someone actually need or use such an implementation of TLS? Well, probably no one actually
needs
it. But it is a userspace TLS implementation in javascript that may fit a niche for someone, and it certainly provides beautifully-indented and annotated binary data in the process. Sound up your alley? The
GitHub repository for the project
has all the details, so give it a look. | 12 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6645018",
"author": "Miles",
"timestamp": "2023-05-22T03:23:37",
"content": "If I want to visit a website that isn’t https I go to gltron.org",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6645041",
"author": "Jouni",
"timestamp": "202... | 1,760,372,290.731621 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/21/hackaday-links-may-21-2023/ | Hackaday Links: May 21, 2023 | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Hackaday links",
"Slider"
] | [
"am",
"amateur radio",
"amplitude modulation",
"balloon",
"beta tester",
"broadcast",
"Gmail",
"hackaday links",
"ham",
"infrasound",
"repeater",
"SpaceX",
"starship",
"stratosphere"
] | The reports of the death of automotive AM radio may have been greatly exaggerated. Regular readers will recall us harping on the issue of
automakers planning to exclude AM
from the infotainment systems in their latest offerings, which doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense given the reach of AM radio and its importance in public emergencies. US lawmakers apparently agree with that position, having now introduced
a bipartisan bill to require AM radios in cars
. The “AM for Every Vehicle Act” will direct the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration to draw up regulations requiring every vehicle operating on US highways to be able to receive AM broadcasts without additional fees or subscriptions. That last bit is clever, since it prevents automakers from charging monthly fees as they do for
heated seats and other niceties
. It’s just a bill now, of course, and stands about as much chance of becoming law as anything else that makes sense does, so we’re not holding our breath on this one. But at least someone recognizes that AM radio still has a valid use case.
We’ve also spent a bit of time recently dunking on SpaceX for their brief but spectacular Starship flight, which ended when the range safety officer decided enough was enough and detonated the mammoth rocket’s self-destruct charges over the Gulf of Mexico. The destruction wrought by the 33 Raptor engines on the launch pad was epic, with concrete and rebar scattered over a fair bit of the Boca Chica launch facility. But now it appears that
debris from the rocket itself is making its way to shore
. People have been finding scraps of Starship and inexplicably posting them online, which seems like a great way for SpaceX goons to come knocking on your door to take back your find. Which is nice and legal, apparently, since the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 says that space debris remains the property of the launch operator. But that begs the question: If the rocket that made the debris never made it to space, does the treaty still apply?
Speaking of almost making it to space, we ran into an article about
strange sounds being detected in the stratosphere
recently. The work comes from Sandia National Labs, where balloons carrying instrument platforms are sent aloft regularly to see — and hear — what’s going on up there. Up at around 50 km altitude, the balloon’s microphones picked up an infrasonic (below 20 Hz) signal of unknown origin. On some flights, the sound is heard repeating a few times every hour, which makes it all the more mysterious. But to us, the really interesting thing here is that the balloons are incredibly simple — just rolls of cheap plastic film from the hardware store, rolls of packing tape to stick the gores together, and powdered charcoal from a pyrotechnics supplier. The charcoal goes in the bag to turn the plastic black, the New Mexico sun heats the air inside, and the next thing you know, you’ve got a balloon up in the stratosphere. No hydrogen, no helium — sounds like a recipe for fun. Or, you know —
getting into a lot of trouble
.
And now a public service announcement: If you have an old Gmail account that you haven’t used in a while,
you might want to check in on it before Google zaps it
. The company announced that starting in December it’ll start deleting Gmail accounts that haven’t been logged into for two years or more. They’ll be sending out emails to let you know if your account is on the chopping block, and they’ll deactivate the account for 60 days before nuking it completely, so you should have plenty of heads-up to make sure you don’t lose anything. But then again, these things always seem to catch someone unawares, so better to be ahead of the curve if you can.
And finally, Hackaday superfriend Mark Hughes has been putting a lot of work into
Project Boondock Echo
, which aims at building a distributed store-and-forward system for remote radio communications. Mark says they’re at the point of pre-beta testing, where devices will be sent out to a couple of people for two weeks of testing. After they find some bugs and make the necessary fixes, they’ll do a limited run of 20 or so units that will go out to beta testers. If you’re interested in participating, head over to the project page and drop Mark a line. Licensed amateur radio operators only at this point, please. | 14 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644996",
"author": "Carl Smith",
"timestamp": "2023-05-22T01:22:32",
"content": "So they are going to send a email to a gmail account that hasn’t been logged into for two years to warn you that it will be deleted because it hasn’t been logged into for two years?",
"parent_id": ... | 1,760,372,290.49972 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/21/pill-dispenser-to-keep-you-on-track/ | Pill Dispenser To Keep You On Track | Danie Conradie | [
"Medical Hacks"
] | [
"3d printed",
"arduino",
"pill dispenser"
] | When forgetting to take medication on time can lead to a bad day or night, having a helper to keep you on track can greatly improve your life. [M. Bindhammer] faces this scenario every day, so he built his own
robotic pill dispenser
.
The core of the project is a 3D printed dispensing drum with individual pockets for morning and evening medication. It is mounted directly to a 360° winch servo, normally used for RC sailboats, while a second conventional servo opens a small sliding door to drop the pills onto the dispensing tray. The tray integrates a sensitive touch sensor which can detect when [M] picks up the pills, without being triggered by the pills themselves.
[M. Bindhammer] also included a small but loud speaker, connected to a speech synthesis module for audio reminders. The main controller is a Arduino Due with a custom breakout shield that also integrates a DS3231 real time clock. All the electronics are enclosed in a 80’s style humanoid robot-shaped body, with dispensing drum on its chest, and an OLED screen as it’s face.
The end result is a very polished build, which should make [M. Bindhammer]’s life with bipolar disorder a little bit easier, and he hopes it might help others as well.
For more medication related gadgets, take a peek at
another pill dispenser
and a
3D printed dosing spoon
to replace an essential but discontinued commercial version. | 11 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644959",
"author": "Kyle",
"timestamp": "2023-05-21T21:52:56",
"content": "I had thought about something like this some time ago. Rather than a servo just one of those plug in rotary timers. Downside is lack of smarts and time drift.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"re... | 1,760,372,290.679325 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/21/robotic-coffee-comes-to-brooklyn-but-will-it-stay/ | Robotic Coffee Comes To Brooklyn, But Will It Stay? | Donald Papp | [
"cooking hacks",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"automation",
"coffee",
"robotic",
"robots"
] | Robots are cool. Everyone knows it, and [Eater NY] highlights
a coffee shop with a robotic server opening in Brooklyn
. While robots able to prepare and serve drinks or food is not new, it isn’t every day a brick-and-mortar café with a robot behind the counter opens up. But expensive automation isn’t the only puzzle piece needed to make a location work.
A robotic coffee shop (like a
robotic burger joint
) certainly offers novelty, but can it sustain itself beyond that?
As one example, the linked article above points out that
the city of New York prohibits entirely cashless businesses
. Establishments must accept cash payments, and it’s unclear how the touchscreen-driven system would comply with that requirement.
There are also many tasks involved in running even a modest establishment — loading, cleaning, and maintaining for example — that can’t be realistically taken care of by an immobile robot barista. It’s unclear to what extent the robotic coffee shop will employ human staff, but it’s clear that human involvement is something that isn’t going be eliminated any time soon.
Some of you may remember
the robotic burger joint
that our own Brian Benchoff managed to check out, and many of his same observations come to mind. The robot burger was perhaps ahead of its time (
its single location is listed as closed
on Google maps with no recent activity) but maybe the robot coffee place can make it work. Still, expensive automation is only one piece of a system, and the ability to crank out a drink per minute 24/7 might not actually be the missing link. | 25 | 11 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644874",
"author": "Neverm|nd",
"timestamp": "2023-05-21T17:58:37",
"content": "I’m not sure I want to feel ‘excited’ about this… But as to the ‘cashless’ comment… I mean we do still have ATMs and vending machines… No ?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}... | 1,760,372,290.56597 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/21/intel-suggests-dropping-everything-but-64-bit-from-x86-with-its-x86-s-proposal/ | Intel Suggests Dropping Everything But 64-Bit From X86 With Its X86-S Proposal | Maya Posch | [
"computer hacks"
] | [
"intel",
"x86",
"x86_64"
] | In a move that has a significant part of the internet flashing back to the innocent days of 2001 when Intel launched its Itanium architecture as a replacement for the then 32-bit only x86 architecture – before it getting bludgeoned by AMD’s competing x86_64 architecture – Intel has now
released a whitepaper
with associated X86-S specification that seeks to probe the community’s thoughts on it essentially removing all pre-x86_64 features out of x86 CPUs.
While today you can essentially still install your copy of MSDOS 6.11 on a brand-new Intel Core i7 system, with
some caveats
, it’s undeniable that to most users of PCs the removal of 16 and 32-bit mode would likely go by unnoticed, as well as the suggested removal of rings 1 and 2, as well as range of other low-level (I/O) features. Rather than the boot process going from real-mode 16-bit to protected mode, and from 32- to 64-bit mode, the system would boot straight into the 64-bit mode which Intel figures is what everyone uses anyway.
Where things get a bit hazy is that on this theoretical X86-S you cannot just install and boot your current 64-bit operating systems, as they have no concept of this new boot procedure, or the other low-level features that got dropped. This is where the
Itanium
comparison seems most apt, as it was Intel’s attempt at a clean cut with its x86 legacy, only for literally everything about the concept (VLIW) and ‘legacy software’ support to go horribly wrong.
Although X86-S seems much less ambitious than Itanium, it would nevertheless be interesting to hear AMD’s thoughts on the matter. | 140 | 39 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644825",
"author": "YGDES",
"timestamp": "2023-05-21T14:31:07",
"content": "I “get” it in a sense. So maybe the compromise is to leave one or a few cores with the full compatibility features, and the rest of the cores (such as the “economy cores” with 64-bit-only support ?",
"p... | 1,760,372,291.265127 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/21/heres-how-to-build-a-tiny-compiler-from-scratch/ | Here’s How To Build A Tiny Compiler From Scratch | Donald Papp | [
"classic hacks",
"computer hacks",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"binary",
"compiler",
"hello world",
"s-expression"
] | Believe it or not,
building a tiny compiler from scratch
can be as fun as it is accessible. [James Smith] demonstrates by making a tiny compiler for an extremely simple programming language, and showing off a
hello world
.
Here’s what happens with a compiler: human-written code gets compiled into low-level machine code, creating a natively-executable result for a particular processor. [James]’ compiler — created from scratch — makes native x64 Linux ELF binary executables with no dependencies, an experience [James] found both educational and enjoyable. The GitHub repository linked below has everything one needs, but [James] also wrote a book,
From Source Code to Machine Code
,
which he offers for sale to anyone who wants to step through the nitty-gritty.
The (very tiny) compiler is on GitHub as
The Pretty Laughable Programming Language
. It’s tiny, the only data types are integers and pointers, and all it can do is make Linux syscalls — but it’s sufficient to make a program with. Here’s what the code for “Hello world!” looks like before being fed into the compiler:
; the write() syscall:
; ssize_t write(int fd, const void *buf, size_t count);
(syscall 1 1 "Hello world!\n" 13)
0
Working at such a low level can be rewarding, but back in the day the first computers actually relied on humans to be compilers. Operators would work with pencil and paper to convert programs into machine code, and you can get a taste of that with
a project that re-creates what it was like to program a computer using just a few buttons as inputs
. | 27 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644791",
"author": "leonheller",
"timestamp": "2023-05-21T12:34:18",
"content": "My first system was a Motorola D2 kit. It came as a couple of PCBs with lots of components and had to be assembled. It was programmed directly in machine code via a hex keypad and display. I actually w... | 1,760,372,290.973821 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/23/supercon-2022-nick-poole-makes-a-jolly-wrencher-tube/ | Supercon 2022: Nick Poole Makes A Jolly Wrencher Tube | Chris Lott | [
"cons",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Slider",
"Tech Hacks"
] | [
"glass work",
"high vacuum pump",
"Supercon 2022",
"supercon video",
"thermionic valves",
"vacuum tubes"
] | [Nick Poole] shared his circuitous journey into the obscure world of homemade vacuum tubes on the Supercon 2022 stage. It began innocently enough when he saw [Usagi Electric]’s
single bit computer vacuum tube computer
, which uses dozens of vacuum tubes. He got to wondering, could you make vacuum-tube-like devices containing multiple elements? There are some examples, like the 256-bit memory
Selectron tube
from the 1950’s, but nothing general purpose like a 555 timer or quad NAND gate packages. Unencumbered by a deep understanding of how vacuum tubes work, [Nick] proceeds to fill this void by imagining Integrated Thermionic, a fictitious company that exists in an alternate history where transistors were not invented and the vacuum tube reigns supreme. He also showcases a variety of innovative products that Integrated Thermionics manufactured over the decades, including surface mount tubes.
Integrated Thermionic’s SMT Vacuum Tubes in Carrier
He quickly became inspired by folks who were making their own vacuum tubes in a variety of environments, like [JDFlyback] who is
making tubes in his garage
to [Dalibor Farný] who is
making artisan Nixie tubes
from his large workshop in a 17th century castle. At this point, [Nick] takes a deep dive down the rabbit hole and starts accumulating the equipment and supplies for making tubes.
There’s a good chance you haven’t worked with tubes or learned their theory of operation. [Nick] gives a very approachable overview of vacuum tube technology, building up from the very basic of diodes, triodes, and pentodes. And then he digs into all the supplies one needs to make these yourself. Except in specialized applications, vacuum tubes are rarely used anymore, so it is no surprise that there the companies making the necessary bits and pieces are few and far between. The few that do exist have large minimum orders not exactly suitable to the hobbyist, although in some cases [Nick] succeeded in getting samples.
When obtaining the necessary equipment to build your own vacuum tubes, you’ll run in to similar issues as with supplies. There are few companies with tooling that is both suitable and affordable. [Nick] succeeded by outfitting his lab with a combination of home-built tools and surplus equipment. In fact, he’s started in open source hardware project called Foton that’s a glass working lathe designed specifically for small scale vacuum tubes manufacturing — no repository yet, it’s a work in progress.
Be aware of inherited wisdom — it turns out that large, expensive systems foster superstitions because gremlins are difficult to diagnose.
[Nick] wraps up with a show-and-tell describing a special Hackaday diode vacuum tube that he completed just days before the presentation, featuring a Jolly-Wrencher-shaped anode cut from a thin sheet of nickel. It does work as a diode, although it won’t be winning any efficiency awards — the filament requires 22 W of heater power ( 10 V @ 2 A ), and at 60 V plate potential it can only pass 2 mA. [Nick] was hoping to make the anode glow by coating it with a cathodoluminescent phosphor, the technique used in vacuum fluorescent displays. Despite jumping through hoops and obtaining a sample of the necessary phosphor powder, the application process has so far eluded him.
Planar Element Multi-Valve (PEMV), Op-amp Circuit Shown
[Nick] has a great presentation style and is clearly passionate about this topic. There are so many fields involved in making vacuum tubes, each section of this talk could itself be an entire presentation. We hope [Nick]’s vacuum-tube-making skills and lab continue to grow. And we eagerly anticipate seeing his Planar Element Multi-Valve, a six-pentode array the size of a pack of playing cards (demonstrated next year?). The slide presentation from the talk is
available here (PDF). | 5 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6645607",
"author": "smellsofbikes",
"timestamp": "2023-05-23T15:43:09",
"content": "It’s been so much fun watching him accumulate the parts for this and posting progress on Mastodon and it’s really neat to see this coordinated presentation.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,372,290.832503 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/23/building-circuits-flexibly/ | Building Circuits Flexibly | Al Williams | [
"PCB Hacks"
] | [
"breadboard",
"flexible circuits",
"prototyping"
] | You think of breadboards as being a flexible way to build things — one can easily add components and wires and also rip them up. But MIT researchers want to introduce an actual flexible breadboard called
FlexBoard
. The system is like a traditional breadboard, but it is literally flexible. If you want to affix your prototype to a glove or a ball, good luck with a traditional breadboard. FlexBoard makes it easy. You can see a short video below and a second video presentation about the system, also.
The breadboard uses a plastic living hinge arrangement and otherwise looks more or less like a conventional breadboard. We can think of about a dozen projects this would make easier.
What’s more, it doesn’t seem like it would be that hard to fabricate using a 3D printer and some sacrificial breadboards. The
paper
reveals that the structures were printed on an Ender 3 using ePLA and a flexible vinyl or nylon filament. Want to try it yourself?
You can
!
We know what we will be printing this weekend. If you make any cool prototypes with this, be sure to
let us know
. Sometimes we
breadboard virtually
. Our favorite breadboards, though, have more than just the
breadboard
on them. | 20 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6645553",
"author": "Jan",
"timestamp": "2023-05-23T12:37:25",
"content": "Why not just learn how to solder?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6645582",
"author": "Neverm|nd",
"timestamp": "2023-05-23T14:12:37",
"conte... | 1,760,372,290.906118 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/23/smart-pants-sound-alarm-when-your-fly-is-undone/ | Smart Pants Sound Alarm When Your Fly Is Undone | Lewin Day | [
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"ESP32",
"fly",
"jeans",
"pants",
"wearable"
] | It’s always embarrassing to be told your fly is down. Even moreso when you realize it’s been that way since you returned from the bathroom an hour ago.
[Guy Dupont] has built a device to solve this awkward issue once and for all
. (
Nitter
)
Pictured: The Hall effect sensor and magnet attached to the zipper.
The pants contain a Hall effect sensor which has been attached inside the fly of the jeans, at the bottom of the zipper. The zipper pull itself was then fitted with a strong magnet, which triggers the sensor when the zipper is in the open position. An ESP32 in the pocket of the jeans is tasked with monitoring the sensor. If it detects that the zipper has been down for too long, it sends a notification to the wearer’s smartphone to zip up. We kind of wish they’d sound
an ear-splitting klaxon,
but that might draw undesired attention to the wearer.
Zipper position monitoring seems like a nightmare at first, but [Guy]’s hack shows us that it’s actually trivial with this method. The system does, however, add significant complication to what was previously a totally-analog pair of pants. Don’t expect “Big Jeans” to jump on this tech, as maintenance and waterproofing issues would likely make the hardware a pain to deal with in real life.
Plus, just imagine the frustration every morning. “Sorry, mate, not ready to head out yet – I’ve gotta pair my jeans with my smartphone.”
If you know me, you know one of my favorite things to do is speedrun product ideas from my friends. One requested "Pants that detect when your fly is down for too long and send you a notification". Currently seeking investors.
pic.twitter.com/Mz3IDnCLaG
— Guy Dupont (@gvy_dvpont)
May 23, 2023 | 28 | 18 | [
{
"comment_id": "6645492",
"author": "shinsukke",
"timestamp": "2023-05-23T08:03:46",
"content": "I have not worn pants in 2 years! Praise be the work-from-home paradigm",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6645528",
"author": "Ostracus",
... | 1,760,372,291.335472 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/22/whats-black-white-and-red-on-20-sides/ | What’s Black, White, And Red On 20 Sides? | Michael Shaub | [
"Games"
] | [
"3D printed case",
"ble",
"board games",
"dice",
"DnD",
"eink",
"electronic dice",
"nordic",
"nRF52810"
] | You won’t need to pack a full set of dice for your next game with this DIY Multifunctional Eink Gadget. [Sasa Karanović] brings us
a fun device that combines a few essential aspects of tabletop gaming
, D6, D12, and D20 dice rolling and a hero dashboard. While they have grand plans for a BLE networked future application, we admire the restraint to complete a V1 project before allowing scope-creep to run amok. Well played!
For this project, [Sasa] realized it needed to be battery powered and just choosing the right display for a battery powered application can be daunting. Even if you aren’t building this project, the video after the break includes a nice intro to electronic ink and low power microcontrollers for the uninitiated. We even see a graph of the completed board’s power draw from the button wake up, display refresh, and low power sleep. The project has some neat tips for building interaction into case design with the use of the display and a flexible bezel as integrated buttons.
The BLE capability introduces some exciting possibilities for connected game play in-person and over long distances, and it looks like [SasaKaranović] has some cool applications already in the works. We hope to see where those lead and if a community develops of hackers with similar devices building new applications for the multifunction device, from the dungeon to the smart-home. | 11 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6645458",
"author": "Aaron Christophel",
"timestamp": "2023-05-23T05:44:23",
"content": "Lately i created an actually dice out of E-paper displayshttps://twitter.com/atc1441/status/1613248113434583061",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_i... | 1,760,372,291.494005 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/22/network-programming/ | Network Programming | Al Williams | [
"Network Hacks",
"Software Development",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"network programming",
"network socket",
"tcp/ip"
] | If you want a book on network programming, there are a few classic choices. [Comer’s] TCP/IP books are a great reference but sometimes is too low level. “Unix Networking Programming” by [Stevens] is the usual choice, but it is getting a little long in the tooth, as well. Now we have “
Beej’s Guide to Network Programming Using Internet Sockets
.” While the title doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, the content is right on and fresh. Best part? You can read it now in your browser or in PDF format.
All the topics you’d expect are there in ten chapters. Of course, there’s the obligatory description of what a socket is and the types of sockets you commonly encounter. Then there’s coverage of addressing and portability. There’s even a section on IPV6.
After covering the most common socket API calls, there is a simple example. Then Chapter 7 covers “slightly advanced techniques.” That includes things like the select API call, partial sends, and broadcast packets. Chapter 9 is just man pages which are handy if you have the printed reference on an airplane. Overall, a good modern treatment of the topic.
While the socket API originated at Berkely, just about every network stack looks the same more or less, so if you learn these calls, you’ll do fine on whatever operating system you like, including many microcontrollers.
Usually, when we are looking at networking, our eyes are focused
lower in the stack
. But if you aren’t
reverse engineering
, the API is definitely the way to go. | 13 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6645417",
"author": "CMH62",
"timestamp": "2023-05-23T02:34:03",
"content": "Oh great. Yet another super interesting PDF I’ve now downloaded and put into my ever-growing stack of PDF’s I’ll get to real soon now! :-)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{... | 1,760,372,291.624577 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/22/bringing-the-pio-to-the-fpga/ | Bringing The PIO To The FPGA | Matthew Carlson | [
"FPGA"
] | [
"PIO",
"Raspberry Pi Pico",
"verilog"
] | We’ve seen some pretty incredible hacks using the Raspberry Pi 2040. However, one of the most exciting bits of hardware onboard is the Programmable I/O (PIO). Not content with it just being a part of RP2040-based projects, [Lawrie Griffiths] has been
porting the PIO to Verilog so anyone can enjoy it
.
This particular implementation is based only on the spec that Raspberry Pi provides. For assembling PIO code, [Lawrie] uses Adafruit’s pioasm assembler they use for their MicroPython framework. There’s a simulator to test different programs, and the project targets the Blackice MX and the Ulx3s. A few example programs are included in the repo, such as outputting a pleasant guitar note over I2S and driving a chain of WS2812s.
The project is still incomplete but slowly making progress. It’s an incredible feat of reverse engineering. While the simulator can be used to debug programs, step through instructions, and inspect waveforms, the ultimate value of bringing the PIO to other systems is that now we can re-use the code. Things like
the can2040, an implementation of the CAN bus protocol using the PIO
. Or even a
PIO-based USB host
. | 11 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6645399",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2023-05-23T00:45:03",
"content": "that silly assembler written in C macros from last week is coming to mind as this article asks me to contemplate how i would (will) interface with PIO now that i have a comfortable bare C environment on th... | 1,760,372,291.3869 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/22/the-thousand-year-radioactive-diamond-battery/ | The Thousand Year (Radioactive) Diamond Battery | Jenny List | [
"Science"
] | [
"battery",
"Betavoltaic",
"nuclear battery"
] | The Holy Grail of battery technology is a cell which lasts forever, a fit-and-forget device that never needs replacing. It may seem a pipe-dream, but
University of Bristol researchers have come pretty close.
The catch? Their battery lasts a very long time, but it generates micropower, and it’s radioactive.
They’re using a thin layer of vapour-deposited carbon-14 diamond both as a source of beta radiation, and as a semiconductor material which harvests those electrons. They’re expected to be used for applications such as intermittent sensors, where they would slowly charge a supercapacitor which could release useful amounts of power in short bursts.
It’s being touted as an environmental win because the carbon-14 is sourced from radioactive waste, but against that it’s not unreasonable to have a concern about the things being radioactive.
The company commercializing the tech
leads with the bold question: “
What would you do with a power-cell that outlasts the device it powers?
“, to which we would hope the answer won’t be “Throw it away to be a piece of orphaned radioactive waste in the environment when the device it powers is outlasted”. We’ll have to wait and see whether devices containing these things turn up on the surplus market in a couple of decades.
Fortunately the carbon-14 lives not in cartoonish vats of radioactive green slime but safely locked away in diamond, about the safest medium for it to be in. The prototype devices are also tiny, so we’re guessing that the quantity of carbon-14 involved is also small enough to not be a problem. We’re curious though whether they could become a valuable enough commodity to be reused and recycled in themselves, after all something that supplies energy for decades could power several different devices over its lifetime. Either way, it’s a major improvement over
a tritium cell
. | 44 | 16 | [
{
"comment_id": "6645294",
"author": "Zach",
"timestamp": "2023-05-22T20:03:08",
"content": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDFlV0OEK5E",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6645368",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2023-05-22T23:04:1... | 1,760,372,291.574607 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/22/handheld-pc-looks-great/ | Handheld PC Looks Great | Al Williams | [
"3d Printer hacks",
"Arduino Hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"cyberdeck",
"handheld"
] | [Bytewelder] fondly remembers the Palm III and Sharp HC-4500, so taking on the design of
Decktility
, a custom handheld cyberdeck , was a natural next step. The blog post goes into much detail about the design decisions and challenges throughout the project. The
end result
, though, looks great.
The device uses a Raspberry Pi CM4 and an IPS touchscreen. The bulk of the design work was to get the power system working. There is a custom FET board and an Arduino that manages charging and battery state.
The 3D-printed case is compact, and the whole thing weighs about 375 grams. You can replace the batteries after their 6-hour stint or charge them
in situ
via USB-C.
The battery charger is of particular interest. [Bytewelder] wanted to integrate power management but didn’t want to write custom Linux drivers. The solution was simple: have the Arduino emulate an existing power management device with Linux driver support. In this case, the power management system looks to the Raspberry Pi like an LTC294x device, so the normal Linux OS knows how to handle it.
If you are really worried about batteries, you can swap
processing power for battery life
. This build reminds us of some of the organizers that were popular once upon a time. We have a soft spot for decks that look like
retro computers
or even if they
could have been
. | 13 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6645246",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2023-05-22T18:40:53",
"content": "If that had an LTE and/or SDR or I guess just the exposed PCI-e lane – so the ‘wifi’ keyed M.2 slot to bring out USB as well?? I could see that being a really really useful device for many folks. Decent... | 1,760,372,291.438499 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/22/dear-ubuntu/ | Dear Ubuntu… | Jenny List | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Rants",
"Slider"
] | [
"distro bloat",
"linux",
"snap",
"ubuntu"
] | Dear Ubuntu,
I hope this letter finds you well. I want to start by saying that our time together has been one of creativity and entertainment, a time in which you gave me the tools to develop a new career, to run a small electronics business, make fun things, and to write several thousand articles for Hackaday and other publications, but for all that it’s sadly time for our ways to part. The magic that once brought us together has faded, and what remains is in danger of becoming a frustration.
In our early days as an item you gave me for the first time a Linux distro that was complete, fast, and easy to use without spending too much time at the CLI or editing config files to make things happen; you gave me a desktop that was smooth and uncluttered, and you freed me from all those little utilities that were required to make Windows usable. You replaced the other distros I’d been using, you dual-booted with my Windows machines, and pretty soon you supplanted the Microsoft operating system entirely.
Me and Ubuntu in 2017, good times.
We’ve been together for close to two decades now, and in that time we’ve looked each other in the eye across a variety of desktop and laptop computers. My trusty Dell Inspiron 640 ran you for over a decade through several RAM, HDD, and SSD upgrades, and provided Hackaday readers with the first few years of my writing. Even the Unity desktop couldn’t break our relationship, those Linux Mint people weren’t going to tear us asunder! You captured my text, edited my videos and images, created my PCBs and CAD projects, and did countless more computing tasks. Together we made a lot of people happy, and for that I will always be grateful.
This dialogue has been an unwelcome guest rather a lot of late.
But over the last few years, I’ve noticed that our relationship has slowly become one less of harmony and more of frustration. Like middle-aged spread, you became progressively more bloated, your moments of freezing became obvious and inconvenient, and the delays to open some indispensable pieces of software became too long to simply explain as the result of having other apps running in the background. Our once close relationship has become strained by endless waiting for Snap packaged applications to load, and by my USB peripherals mysteriously refusing to talk to applications they’ve been used with for years.
I understand that Snap is meant to release us from dependency hell and I know why you’ve put each one in its own little sandbox, but honestly, even ChromeOS running a Linux application in its virtual machine is faster than this, and it doesn’t require everything to come from one distribution hub, or mess with access to hardware. I need my machine’s performance back, I need using a peripheral to stop being a lottery. I need more, Ubuntu, I need a distro that understands me and works with me, not against me!
I’ve tried to work around my frustrations, tried to convince myself that maybe if I had a faster laptop we could be happy together, but I can’t help thinking about the older generation PC in my hackerspace running Arch that Just Works, and Just Works without having to wait several minutes for Prusa Slicer to load. I realise that I can’t go on living a lie, I need to move on and find a distro that gives me the performance and stability I crave.
I need you to know that I didn’t jump to this conclusion in an instant. I kept the faith, I kept hoping every fresh distribution update would fix your shortcomings, and I even defended you when confronted with the other, leaner, distros my friends use. But I sense we’ve passed the point of no return, and a relationship built on frustration is no way to live. Let’s remember the good times, writing an article lying in a hammock at BornHack, or cracking how to number-crunch millions of words of corpus text on a mundane laptop. We traveled a long way together, and for that I’m grateful.
The transition will be painless enough, I won’t even uninstall you. Instead I have a new SSD in the mail, and I’ll transfer you in your drive to your own caddy. We’ll still see each other from time to time, and maybe if you can Snap out of your midlife crisis one day we’ll get back together. Meanwhile, thanks for all the good things you allowed me to do over the years, and I hope your maintainers can help you through your current difficulties.
Yours,
Jenny List | 279 | 50 | [
{
"comment_id": "6645205",
"author": "Mikepl",
"timestamp": "2023-05-22T17:06:04",
"content": "Well, CLI time and editing configs, for my whole life i thought that’s the point of running Linux!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6645225",
... | 1,760,372,291.894086 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/22/design-for-3d-printing-hack-chat/ | Design For 3D Printing Hack Chat | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns"
] | [
"Hack Chat"
] | Join us on Wednesday, May 24 at noon Pacific for the
Design for 3D Printing Hack Chat
with Eric Utley!
Like a lot of enabling technologies, 3D printing has had a strange trajectory. It started out as a laboratory oddity, moved on to industrial applications, and finally filtered down to the DIY set, first as scratch-built machines and later as inexpensive commodity printers that can be found almost anywhere. Pretty much everyone who needs a 3D printer now has one.
Not all additive manufacturing technologies are created equal, though, and there are plenty of applications for 3D printed parts where FDM just won’t cut it. Luckily, any of us can get access to the latest and greatest manufacturing technologies through job houses that specialize in everything from metal 3D printing to sheet metal fabrication, CNC machining, and even small-run injection molding. We may not be able to afford any of the machines, but in a lot of cases we can afford to rent time of them and get high-quality parts quickly.
But that raises another question: Is my design ready for printing? What works on an Ender on your shop bench might not quite translate to the latest SLS printer, and sending off an iffy design could just end up wasting time and money. Whether you’re sending your designs out and running them up on your own printer, you want to know what you’re doing will work. That’s why we’ve asked Eric Utley, an applications engineer with Protolabs, to stop by the Hack Chat. With 12 years of additive manufacturing experience, he’ll be able to help you tune up your designs and make sure they’re ready to print.
Our Hack Chats are live community events in the
Hackaday.io Hack Chat group messaging
. This week we’ll be sitting down on Wednesday, May 24 at 12:00 PM Pacific time. If time zones have you tied up, we have a
handy time zone converter
.
Click that speech bubble to the right, and you’ll be taken directly to the Hack Chat group on Hackaday.io. You don’t have to wait until Wednesday; join whenever you want and you can see what the community is talking about. | 0 | 0 | [] | 1,760,372,291.660766 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/22/hoverboard-rides-on-eddy-currents/ | Hoverboard Rides On Eddy Currents | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"back to the future",
"eddy current",
"hoverboard",
"levitation",
"magnet",
"magnetic field",
"magnetism",
"skateboard"
] | The famous hoverboards of
Back to the Future
haven’t quite gotten here yet, but that hasn’t stopped anyone with a unique personal vehicle from using the name any time they need some quick marketing. The self-balancing scooter trend of the mid-2010s was the best example of this in recent memory, but there are also water-propelled platforms that use the popular name as well as a myriad of other more skateboard-like devices that never got off the ground at all. This project from [Damien Dolata], on the other hand, might be
the most authentic prototype we’ve seen
compared against the fictional version presented in the movie.
The hoverboard uses a set of rotating magnets, referred to in this build as magneto-rotational repulsors, which spin up to an extremely high rotational speed underneath the board. When above a metal surface, the spinning magnets generate eddy currents in the metal beneath them which create the strong magnetic field needed to levitate the board. Unlike the
Lexus hoverboard system
which used supercooling magnets, this is a much more affordable way of producing magnetic fields but is a little bit more complicated due to the extra moving parts.
As this is still in the prototyping stages, it has only been able to lift around 30 kg and hasn’t been tested in motion yet, but there are two small turbines built into the hoverboard to generate thrust whenever [Damien] gets to that point. It would require a larger metal surface to move across as well, which might be the main reason why it hasn’t been tested this way yet. For any native French speakers taking a look at this project, be sure to fill in any of our gaps in the comments below, and for other ways that eddy currents have been used in transportation take a look at
this bicycle that uses them in its drivetrain
. | 32 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6645161",
"author": "ono",
"timestamp": "2023-05-22T15:06:33",
"content": "It might be able to lift its own battery pack for few minutes…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6645203",
"author": "chango",
"timestamp... | 1,760,372,291.966338 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/22/airtags-tiles-smarttags-and-the-dilemmas-of-personal-tracking-devices/ | AirTags, Tiles, SmartTags And The Dilemmas Of Personal Tracking Devices | Maya Posch | [
"Current Events",
"Featured",
"Interest",
"Original Art",
"Slider"
] | [
"AirTag",
"Apple AirTag",
"personal tracking device"
] | In an ideal world we would never lose our belongings, and not spend a single hour fruitlessly searching for some keys, a piece of luggage, a smartphone or one of the two dozen remote controls which are scattered around the average home these days. Since we do not live in this ideal world, we have had to come up with ways to keep track of our belongings, whether inside or outside our homes, which has led to today’s ubiquitous personal tracking devices.
Today’s popular Bluetooth-based trackers constantly announce their presence to devices set up to listen for them. Within a home, this range is generally enough to find the tracker and associated item using a smartphone, after which using special software the tracker can be made to sound its built-in speaker to ease localizing it by ear. Outside the home, these trackers can use mesh networks formed by smartphones and other devices to ‘phone home’ to paired devices.
This is great when it’s your purse. But this also gives anyone the ability to stick such a tracker device onto a victim’s belongings and track them without their consent, for whatever nefarious purpose. Yet it is this duality between useful and illegal that has people on edge when it comes to these trackers. How can we still use the benefits they offer, without giving stalkers and criminals free reign? A
draft proposal by Apple and Google, submitted to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), seeks to address these points
but it remains complicated.
Game Of Tag
The first range of Bluetooth-based personal tracking devices that popularized tracking one’s belongings using these devices came from
Tile
, with the release of their Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) 4.0-based trackers. These were marketed for keeping track of one’s keys, a backpack and similar easy to lose items, with an associated smartphone app being used to detect the tracker within a range of about 30 meters. The second generation also added a ‘find my phone’ feature where pressing a button on the Tile tracker causes the paired smartphone to make a noise.
Current Tile trackers feature a ‘crowd GPS’ feature, whereby a reported-as-lost Tile tracker coming within reach of any smartphone running the Tile app will result in the location being anonymously sent to the owner. While quite popular, it wasn’t until the
Apple AirTag
was released in April of 2021 that suddenly personal tracking devices appeared everywhere. The AirTags use the ubiquitous Apple
Find My
network that is powered by the about one billion Apple devices around the globe. Meanwhile the Samsung ‘SmartThings Find’ network is used for its
Galaxy SmartTags
tracker devices.
These devices only function fully within their own ecosystem. AirTags can only be paired with Apple devices, and Samsung SmartTags only gain access to ‘SmartThings Find’ where Samsung smartphones are involved. Although the BLE communication is universal and allows any BLE-enabled device to at least see the trackers advertising their ID, recent features such as precise localizing via ultra-wideband (
UWB
) communication – using e.g. Apple’s U1 chip in iPhones – is less universal, just like access to the tracker’s built-in speaker and stored (NFC) information.
Screenshots of Apple’s Tracker Detect app for Android, demonstrating tracking and AirTag disabling instructions. (Credit: Apple)
Thus the bad news is that for example an AirTag can only be tracked while it is in range of Apple devices configured to listen for AirTags and will essentially vanish the moment it’s out of range. The good news is that you have to travel to pretty remote locations to get out of range of any and all Apple devices and never get near pockets of civilization again to make an AirTag go fully AWOL. If you, on the other hand, have an Android device, your only recourse to locate nearby AirTags is using the
Tracker Detect app
. Similarly, if you use a Samsung SmartTag or Tile, you need their app.
With Apple devices featuring so prominently, it is perhaps little surprise that AirTags also see the most use outside of regular legitimate uses. Recently, for example, the New York Policy Department has been
giving out free AirTags
to residents which they can hide in their cars, as a way to address rising car theft. If the car gets stolen, then the AirTag should theoretically lead the NYPD straight to what’s left of the car in the
chop shop
, or maybe even the intact vehicle and highly embarrassed thieves.
Naturally, everything that can be used for good can and will be used for evil, which is where the privacy aspects come into play.
Tag Warfare
A kind of weapons race has been taking place between those who would abuse these cheap and powerful tracking devices and those who are at risk of becoming a victim of such abuse. The commonly cited example of stalking is one of these, but another one involves the exact inverse of tracking down stolen cars, in the form of car thieves
tagging targets
with an AirTag while the vehicle is in a public area, so that they can
steal it later
when it’s in a more secluded area.
AirTag innards, exposing the PCB and voice coil. (Credit:
iFixit
)
So how do you make a tracking device into not-a-tracking-device when it shouldn’t be one? How could you make a set of rules to tell these situations apart? In the draft that Google and Apple engineers submitted to the IETF, they propose a number of requirements that they hope will ensure legal tracker use.
The primary suggestion is to force the tracker to emit noise with its speaker when requested by a person who thinks that they’re being tracked, generally the person who got a warning about an unknown AirTag. The essential problem here is that anyone who has nefarious intentions will likely disable the speaker, along with any vibration motors, LEDs and similar features which are listed in the draft. As the
AirTag teardown
and those of similar devices by the folk over at iFixit makes abundantly clear, these devices are not hard to disassemble, and disabling the speaker very straightforward, while AirTag clones can conceivably
work around
Apple’s privacy checks. We’d say that any reasonable anti-tracking measures should be based around the assumption that the tracker is mute and has no functioning fallbacks.
Fortunately, not all hope is lost. Unlike dedicated surveillance trackers, AirTags are fairly easy to track because they communicate primarily via Bluetooth (BLE). By standardizing the information made available via BLE and possibly NFC, a subset of information could be made available to anyone. This could be used to identify the owner even when the tracker is not put into ‘lost’ mode, using details like a partial email address or phone number. This kind of standardization could at the very least seriously cut back the complexity of keeping track of unwanted trackers without juggling half a dozen apps on one’s smartphone.
It’s a shame that the draft does not mention UWB, even though this would probably be the easiest way to locate a tracker, while also being the hardest to circumvent — involving more work than simply ripping out a speaker. The draft does spend some time on a near-owner and separated mode, which would affect what information would be broadcast, but it’s hard to tell what the exact impact of this might be.
Existing Fixes
One might be excused for thinking that there currently exist no real attempts to reign in abuse of these tracking devices, but this isn’t entirely correct. Apple has
detailed instructions
on how to set up an Apple iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch so that you receive alerts when a likely unwanted tracking device is moving with you. After receiving an alert, the offending tracker can then be located either by sound, or if the i-device has UWB, by localizing its UWB signal.
Meanwhile on the Tile side of the fence, the company has taken a polar opposite approach to Apple with its
Anti-Theft mode
. Essentially in this mode Tile trackers are rendered invisible to the Scan and Secure feature of the Tile app, with the reasoning that this way thieves can not detect the tracker. Although this would seem to invite every possible abuse, the company will perform an intense ID verification on the requesting user, linking their real-life identity to all of their tracking devices and threatening with massive fines should anyone abuse the system despite this.
Google is at the table here because they are
rumored
to launch their own personal tracking devices soon, with similar specifications to AirTags. These would use Google’s Android-based Find My Device network, and the possibility of some level of interoperability between all these tracking devices by itself is not a terrible idea.
Making Water Not Wet
Something as simple as a knife can be a very useful tool, but also a murder weapon. A Bluetooth tracking device can help you locate your lost luggage, but also lead to a harrowing confrontation with a stalker or get your car stolen. The problem is that even with added technology a tracking device doesn’t know the intent of the user.
Until we get to a point where a tracker will respond to an unscrupulous owner with an “I’m sorry, Dave, I cannot let you do that.” we have to accept that silicon can’t solve everything. We’re not hopeful for Apple and Google’s all-technology solution to this dynamic problem — a problem so thorny that it almost makes us forget that all of this began because we just wanted to a good way to keep tabs on our keys and backpack. | 18 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6645141",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2023-05-22T14:12:03",
"content": "Well BT already lets one know like devices in the area even if not paired taking away any stealth capability. The rest is friend or foe, a known military problem.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,... | 1,760,372,292.303942 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/22/chatgpt-rules-the-world-or-at-least-the-home/ | ChatGPT Rules The World… Or, At Least, The Home | Al Williams | [
"home hacks",
"Raspberry Pi"
] | [
"ChatGPT",
"home automation"
] | With all the hype about ChatGPT, it has to have crossed your mind: how can I make it control devices? On the utopia side, you could say, “Hey, ChatGPT, figure out what hours I’m usually home and set the thermostat higher when I am away.” On the dysfunctional side, the AI could lock you in your home and torment you like some horror movie. We aren’t to either extreme yet, but [Chris] couldn’t resist writing
a ChatGPT plugin to control a Raspberry Pi
. You can see a video of how it turned out below.
According to [Chris], writing a ChatGPT plugin is actually much simpler than you think. You can see in the video the AI can intuit what lights to turn on and off based on your activity, and, of course, many more things are possible. It can even detect snoring.
In a bit of self-referential work, ChatGPT actually wrote a good bit of the code required. Here’s the prompt:
Write me a Python Flask API to run on a Raspberry Pi and control some lights attached to GPIO pins.
I have the following lights:
Kitchen: pin 6
Bedroom: pin 13
Dining table: pin 19
Bathroom: pin 26
Lounge: pin 5
I want the following endpoints:
get lights - returns the list of lights along with their current state
post toggle_light - switches a light on or off
It also took the code and generated an OpenAPI file for it automatically. Pretty slick!
Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg of what you could do with a system like this. We are both excited and a little nervous about what will happen when AI takes over more real-world hardware.
As we’ve pointed out, ChatGPT is
great for tedious programming tasks
, but you do need to verify that it is getting things right. We aren’t going to be put out of work by AI —
at least, not yet
. | 17 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6645106",
"author": "Hojo Norem",
"timestamp": "2023-05-22T11:26:06",
"content": "One step closer to LCARS…The natural language interface that is, LCARS is more than just a bunch of coloured shapes on a flat surface.Hmm, why not wire up a Pi with this software to a hot drinks vendin... | 1,760,372,292.021726 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/22/the-wizard-of-semiconductors/ | The Wizard Of Semiconductors | Al Williams | [
"Misc Hacks",
"Parts"
] | [
"IC design",
"skywater"
] | If you have three hours and you want to learn the fundamentals of semiconductors, [Tiny Tapeout] has something for you: An introduction to
SiliWiz
. You’ll also need the
SiliWiz
software (or use it
online
), which resembles the kind of tools that chip designers use but is meant for students to use as a learning tool
Using SiliWiz, you create layers on a virtual device, and you can use Spice to view the results. The tutorial is meant to be high-level and is suggested for students aged 14 or over (but we liked it and we are quite a bit older than that). Some more advanced material is also available at the same site.
SiliWiz is easy to use. You build layers of n or p material, metal, or polysilicon. A slider lets you show a cross-section at a particular point. You label metal endpoints and use the simulation to plot the results. As expected, the process mimics a simplified version of the open-source Skywater process design kit.
We’ve had experience designing and doing failure analysis on ICs, and it is truly a different world. For example, resistors created with diffusion or polysilicon are typically difficult to make precise (that’s why you see laser-trimmed resistors on expensive precision components). However, because photolithography is very precise, the ratio of two capacitors can be a very dependable value even if the absolute value of each capacitor is less predictable. So for a digital-to-analog converter, for example, on a PCB you might use resistors, while on an IC, you are more likely to use capacitors where the ratio of values is well-known. Getting that kind of precision on a PCB with discrete capacitors would be tough.
Designing chips is not easy, and you usually want to start at a higher level and then translate your idea into silicon. SiliWiz isn’t going to give you a directly buildable design, but it will help you understand the IC design and fabrication process better.
We’ve covered the
Skywater PDK
before. We highly suggest you check out [Matt Venn’s]
Zero to ASIC
workshop if you plan to take this further. | 19 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6645078",
"author": "Daid",
"timestamp": "2023-05-22T09:36:03",
"content": "How long till someone makes a full CPU in this?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6645115",
"author": "YGDES",
"timestamp": "2023-05-22T... | 1,760,372,292.079011 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/20/hexed-home-assistant-monitors-3d-printers/ | Hexed Home Assistant Monitors 3D Printers | Al Williams | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"home automation",
"WLED"
] | You can babysit your 3D printer 100% of the time, or you can cross your fingers and hope it all works. Some monitor their printers using webcams, but [Simit] has a more
stylish method of keeping tabs on six 3D printers
.
The idea is to use a 3D printed hex LED display found online. Adding an ESP32 and Home Assistant allows remote control of the display. The printers use Klipper and can report their status using an API called Moonraker. Each hexagon shows the status of one printer. You can tell if the printer is online, paused, printing, or in other states based on the color and amount of LEDs lit. For example, a hex turns totally green when printing is complete.
Once you have a web API and some network-controlled LEDs, it is relatively straightforward to link it together with Home Automation. Of course, you could do it other ways, too, but if you already have Home Automation running for other reasons, why not?
We have seen other ways to do this, of course. If you need an easy monitor, the
eyes have it
. If you don’t use Klipper,
OctoPrint
can pull a similar stunt. | 6 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644527",
"author": "Rootiest",
"timestamp": "2023-05-20T15:11:52",
"content": "Klipper (moonraker) also supports WLED directly so you can cut out the Home Assistant middleman and just directly control the WLED lights from klipper macros.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,372,292.119051 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/20/get-that-dream-job-with-a-bit-of-text-injection/ | Get That Dream Job, With A Bit Of Text Injection | Jenny List | [
"Machine Learning",
"Security Hacks"
] | [
"ai",
"ChatGPT",
"pdf",
"text injection"
] | Getting a job has always been a tedious and annoying process, as for all the care that has been put into a CV or resume, it can be still headed for the round file at the whim of some corporate apparatchik. At various times there have also been dubious psychometric tests and other horrors to contend with, and now we have the specter of AI before us. We can be tossed aside simply because some AI model has rejected our CV, no human involved. If this has made you angry, perhaps it’s time to look at [Kai Greshake]’s work. He’s fighting back, by
injecting a PDF CV with extra text
to fool the AI into seeing the perfect candidate, and even fooling AI-based summarizers.
Text injection into a PDF is a technique the same as used by the less salubrious end of the search engine marketing world, of placing text in a web page such that a human can’t read it but a machine can. The search engine marketeers put them in tiny white text or offset them far out of the viewport, and it seems the same is possible in a PDF. He’s put the injection in white and a tiny font, and interestingly, overlaid it several times.
Using the ChatGPT instance available in the Bing sidebar he’s then able to fool it into an affirmative replay to questions about whether he should be hired. But it’s not just ChatGPT he’s targeting, another use of AI in recruitment is via summarizing tools. By injecting a lot of text with phrases normally used in conclusion of a document, he’s able to make Quillbot talk about puppies. Fancy a go yourself? He’s put a summarizer online, in the link above.
So maybe the all-seeing AI isn’t as clever as we’ve been led to believe.
Who’d have thought it
! | 28 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644462",
"author": "Reluctant Cannibal",
"timestamp": "2023-05-20T08:31:00",
"content": "“The search engine marketeers put them in tiny white text or offset them far out of the viewport” This is way out of date and does not fool the bots any more, but probs still relevent in a CV. ... | 1,760,372,292.37298 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/19/spy-transceiver-makes-two-tubes-do-the-work-of-five/ | Spy Transceiver Makes Two Tubes Do The Work Of Five | Dan Maloney | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"amateur",
"continuous wave",
"cw",
"ham",
"mixer",
"oscillator",
"relay",
"sidetone",
"spy radio",
"transceiver",
"vacuum tube"
] | Here at Hackaday, we love following along with projects as they progress. That’s especially true when a project makes a considerable leap in terms of functionality from one version to another, or when the original design gets more elegant. And when you get both improved function and decreased complexity at the same time? That’s the good stuff.
Take
the recent improvements to a vacuum tube “spy radio”
as an example. Previously, [Helge (LA6NCA)] built both
a two-tube transmitter
and
a three-tube receiver
, either of which would fit in the palm of your hand. A little higher math seems to indicate that combining these two circuits into a transceiver would require five tubes, but that’s not how hams like [Helge] roll. His 80-m CW-only transceiver design uses only two tubes and a lot of tricks, which we admit we’re still wrapping our heads around. On the receive side, one tube serves as a mixer/oscillator, combining the received signal with a slightly offset crystal-controlled signal to provide the needed beat frequency. The second tube serves as the amplifier, both for the RF signal when transmitting, and for audio when receiving.
The really clever part of this build is that [Helge] somehow stuffed four separate relays into the tiny Altoids tin chassis. Three of them are used to switch between receive and transmit, while the fourth is set up as a simple electromagnetic buzzer. This provides the sidetone needed to effectively transmit Morse code, and is about the simplest way we’ve ever seen to address that need. Also impressive is how [Helge] went from a relatively expansive breadboard prototype to a much more compact final design, and how the solder was barely cooled before he managed to make a contact over 200 km. The video below has all the details.
Thanks to [Stephen Walters] for the tip. | 26 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644455",
"author": "Rob Ward",
"timestamp": "2023-05-20T07:04:12",
"content": "That is an awesome design and construction Helge. To squeeze that sort of functionality into a little metal Altoids box is amazing. I am not into valve radios at all I just usd to pull them apart as a ch... | 1,760,372,294.126742 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/19/prompt-injection-an-ai-targeted-attack/ | Prompt Injection: An AI-Targeted Attack | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Artificial Intelligence"
] | [
"ai",
"artificial intelligence",
"ChatGPT",
"GPT",
"injection attack",
"prompt injection",
"security",
"vulnerability",
"youtube"
] | For a brief window of time in the mid-2010s, a fairly common joke was to send voice commands to Alexa or other assistant devices over video. Late-night hosts and others would purposefully attempt to activate voice assistants like these en masse and get them to do ridiculous things. This isn’t quite as common of a gag anymore and was relatively harmless unless the voice assistant was set up to do something like automatically place Amazon orders, but now that much more powerful AI tools are coming online we’re seeing that joke taken to its logical conclusion:
prompt-injection attacks
.
Prompt injection attacks, as the name suggests, involve maliciously inserting prompts or requests in interactive systems to manipulate or deceive users, potentially leading to unintended actions or disclosure of sensitive information. It’s similar to something like an
SQL injection attack
in that a command is embedded in something that seems like a normal input at the start. Using an AI like GPT comes with an inherent risk of attacks like this when using it to automate tasks, as commands to the AI can be hidden where a user might not expect to see them,
like in this demonstration
where hidden prompts for a ChatGPT plugin are hidden in YouTube video transcripts to attempt to get ChatGPT to perform actions outside of those the original user would have asked for.
While this specific attack is more of a proof-of-concept, it’s foreseeable that as these tools become more sophisticated and interconnected in our lives, the risks of a malicious attacker causing harm start to rise. Restricting how much access we give
networked computerized systems
is certainly one option, similar to sandboxing or containerizing websites so they can’t all share cookies amongst themselves, but we should start seeing some thought given to these attacks by the developers of AI tools in much the same way that we hope developers are
sanitizing SQL inputs
. | 12 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644457",
"author": "Thomas Anderson",
"timestamp": "2023-05-20T07:39:16",
"content": "I love this so much!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6644468",
"author": "Dan",
"timestamp": "2023-05-20T09:11:01",
"content": "…... | 1,760,372,294.418892 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/19/early-computer-art-from-the-1950s-and-1960s/ | Early Computer Art From The 1950s And 1960s | Joseph Long | [
"Art"
] | [
"art",
"computer graphics",
"history"
] | Modern day computer artist, [Amy Goodchild] surveys a history of
Early Computer Art from the 1950s and 1960s
. With so much attention presently focused on AI-generated artwork, we should remember that computers have been used to created art for many decades.
Our story begins in 1950 when Ben Laposky started using long exposure photography of cathode ray oscilloscopes to record moving signals generated by electronic circuits. In 1953, Gordon Pask developed the electromechanical MusiColor system. MusiColor empowered musicians to control visual elements including lights, patterns, and motorized color wheels using sound from their instruments. The musicians could interact with the system in real-time, audio-visual jam sessions.
In the early 1960s,
BEFLIX
(derived form Bell Flix) was developed by Ken Knowlton at Bell Labs as a programming language for generating video animations. The Graphic 1 computer featuring a light pen input device was also developed at Bell Labs. Around the same timeframe, IBM introduced novel visualization technology in the IBM 2250 graphics display for its System/360 computer. The 1967 IBM promotional film
Frontiers in Computer Graphics
demonstrates the capabilities of the system.
From the humble beginnings of computer art, lines between science, engineering, and art continued to blur as program code, algorithms, and engineered systems established their place in the art world. Explorations of generative computer art in areas such as randomness, chaos, electromechanics, psychology, human vision, cellular automata, and robotics expressed in various creative manifestations such as print, music, video, photography, typography, dance, mobiles, and sculpture.
In 1965, computer-generated art was featured in a gallery show for the first time. Despite skepticism, interest in the medium increased and spread around the world. In 1968, the
Cybernetic Serendipity
exhibition at the London Institute of Contemporary Arts inspired tens of thousands of visitors before continuing on a tour to the United States and leading to the formation of the British Computer Arts Society “to promote the understanding of the role of digital and electronic media in the arts.”
Enjoy some modern technology art from [Amy] in our coverage of her interactive
When in Dome
installation and her tutorial on
creating beautiful glowables
using Fadecandy and LEDs. | 5 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644415",
"author": "SETH G BONEY",
"timestamp": "2023-05-20T01:30:50",
"content": "The most disappointing aspect of this latest AI gold rush, is that the term ‘generative’ is being co-opted to imply financial gain. It is the state and statespace of a crypto algorithm, or ML Blackb... | 1,760,372,294.018496 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/19/3d-printing-blueprints-and-other-wall-art/ | 3D Printing Blueprints And Other Wall Art | Al Williams | [
"3d Printer hacks"
] | [
"blueprint",
"james webb space telescope",
"wall art"
] | Today if you want to reproduce a big schematic or a mechanical drawing, you just ask it to print or plot from the CAD model. But back in the day, you drew on big sheets at a drafting table. How do you make copies? Sure, there were a few large-format copiers, but they were expensive. A more common method was to use a heliographic copier which, often but not always, resulted in a blueprint — that is a blue page with white lines or vice versa. These days, you are more likely to see a blueprint as an artistic wall hanging, and since [Basement Creations] wanted some, he figured out how to
make them with a 3D printer
.
These prints aren’t really blueprints. They use the printer as a plotter and deposit white ink on a blue page. In the video below, he shows a number of ways to use a printer to create interesting wall art, even if you want it to be bigger than the print bed. Some of the wall art uses multiple 3D printed parts, and others use the printer as a plotter.
To join the printed pieces, he uses a soldering iron to weld them together. We wondered if it might be worthwhile to make overlapping pieces to glue which would
also help with alignment
. Plotting is great for making PCBs, of course, and while you could invert the image and print blue on white paper, it won’t really look like a blueprint.
You’d think mounting a pen to a printer is easy, and there are a lot of designs online. However, the pen needs to be rigid, and unless your bed is completely trammed, the pen needs some ability to move up and down to maintain pressure. The third mount he creates is pretty over-engineered, with two bearings and rods allowing the pen to ride up and down. It seems like a lot, but it also seems to work well. The final wall art is a 3D-printed replica of the James Webb Telescope that uses real mirrors to mimic the iconic look of that space-borne observatory.
This is one of those projects that isn’t a completely new idea, but we did like the variety of ideas and tips. Presumably, you could also join the blueprint paper to make larger ones.
This isn’t the first James Webb replica we’ve seen, but
the last one had a wooden base
. Maybe you could point your telescope replica
at a faux moon
. | 3 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644423",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2023-05-20T02:07:21",
"content": "I like the pen holder Jakub designed. It solves two issues I had when I tried a similar thing with my Ender 3. I created a rigid pen holder that snaps onto my stock extruder. It works well but requires th... | 1,760,372,294.060562 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/19/building-a-breath-controlled-midi-device/ | Building A Breath-Controlled MIDI Device | Lewin Day | [
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"breath",
"midi",
"midi controller",
"woodwind"
] | When we think of MIDI devices, we typically jump straight to drum machines, rack synths, and keyboard controllers. However, there’s nothing saying you can’t build your own MIDI controllers that use the magic of breath to do their musical duty. That’s precisely what
[Xavier Dumont] did with this unique 3D printed build.
The device looks somewhat like an alien ship from an animated 1960s sci-fi movie, but it’s actually a sophisticated MIDI controller. Naturally, it’s peppered with buttons as every good controller should be, and it features a touch-control strip on the back.
However, the real magic is in the breath control. When the user blows into the sensor, the device sends out MIDI signals of varying intensity to control the object of the player’s desire. The breath signal can be used to modulate the mod wheel, pitch bends, or octave shifts, among a variety of other options.
[Xavier] wields the instrument with prowess in the audio demos at the end of the video. We can imagine this futuristic thing being played by a background alien in a celebration scene in a far-flung
Marvel movie
. Or maybe
Star Wars
? In any case, a triumph. | 6 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644330",
"author": "Denny",
"timestamp": "2023-05-19T19:05:14",
"content": "A different take on the Electronic Wind Instrument. Cool.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6644334",
"author": "Alysson Rowan",
"timestamp": "2... | 1,760,372,293.97621 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/21/a-look-back-at-computer-displays/ | A Look Back At Computer Displays | Al Williams | [
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"display",
"retrocomputing",
"vt100"
] | These days, our video cards are actually as powerful as yesterday’s supercomputer and our monitors are bigger than the TVs most of us had as kids. But how did we get there? [RetroBytes] covers computer displays starting with the
Colossus computer to today
.
Back in the days of Colossus, of course, a display was actually a TeleType-like device printing on a roll of paper. The Manchester Baby actually had a crude display which was actually a Williams tube (no relation) that used phosphor persistence to store data. You could physically see memory on the tube or monitor it on a parallel tube — an early form of memory-mapped display.
Early commercial computing used cards and often used a typewriter-like device as a console. Timesharing allowed people to use computers directly and drove innovation in user interface technology. Of course, displays didn’t start out like the ones we use today. [RetroBytes] shows an old video game that uses vector display technology which was a common way screens worked on early computers. Essentially, the device was an XY oscilloscope driven by the computer.
TeleTypes gave way to “glass TeleTypes” or terminals. Power supplies and CRTs made these heavy, but they were the user’s window into the computer. Of course, eventually, the terminal would become the computer.
The video ends at the terminal. Of course, today, not only is the terminal the computer, but the screen is almost certainly a flat screen. The way a modern VGA card works is a lot different than an old text-based terminal. Not that we didn’t see
old graphics systems, complete with light guns
. Even if you want a duplicate terminal these days, you might want to
scale back on the size a little
. | 10 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644771",
"author": "doppler",
"timestamp": "2023-05-21T10:51:31",
"content": "So this a historical look back on “the best damn buggy whips.” Kudo’s to the first recognizing the reference. Because it was very important for this industry.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
... | 1,760,372,294.276625 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/20/easy-graphene-production-with-a-laser-engraver/ | Easy Graphene Production With A Laser Engraver | Al Williams | [
"Laser Hacks"
] | [
"flash graphene",
"graphene",
"laser etched graphene",
"Robert Murray-Smith"
] | Graphene isn’t easy to produce at scale. But making small batches of graphene is doable in a few ways. [Robert Murray-Smith] decided to try producing “
flash graphene
.” This requires a big capacitor bank that is moderately expensive, so he decided to explain a different technique he read about using an ordinary laser cutter. Check it out in the video below.
We were a little disappointed that he didn’t actually make any graphene this time. He has, however, used other methods in other videos to
create some type of graphene
. In fact, he has many similar videos going back
quite a ways
as well as applications with concrete, capacitors, and
more
. We understand that this method doesn’t produce monolayer graphene, but actually creates a graphene “foam” with interesting properties. [Robert] talks about recent papers that show you can grow graphene on things other than Kapton tape using this method.
If you decide you’d like to try this out, we’d love to see your results. [James Tour] from Rice University has a video about
laser-induced graphene
that might help you, too. We’ve seen [Zachary Tong]
using this method
, as well. The flash process is interesting, too, because when compared to most other methods
it seems more scalable
. | 13 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644720",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2023-05-21T05:47:09",
"content": "“The safe way anyone can do”Yeah we don’t really know that yet. It could very well be hyper-asbestos. Probably don’t make hyper-asbestos in your garage or craft room just yet. It is cool though.",
"parent_... | 1,760,372,293.927788 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/20/thor-microwaves-drone-swarms/ | THOR Microwaves Drone Swarms | Danie Conradie | [
"News",
"Weapons Hacks"
] | [
"anti drone defenses",
"microwave gun",
"swarm"
] | In recent years small drones have gone from being toys and photography tools to a deadly threat on the battlefield. Kamikaze drones have become especially prominent in the news due to their use in the war in Ukraine by both sides. While we haven’t seen coordinated swarms being actively employed on the modern battlefield, it’s likely only a matter of time, making drone swarm defense an active field of development in the industry.
The US Air Force Research Laboratory recently conducted tests and a demonstration of an anti-drone weapon that uses
pulses of high-power microwave energy
to fry the electronics of a swarm of drones. Named the
Tactical High-power Operational Responder
, or THOR (presumably they picked the acronym first), it’s housed in a 20ft shipping container with large microwave antenna on top. The form factor is important because a weapon is only useful if it can reach the battlefield, and this can fit in the back of a C130.
THOR likely functions similarly to a shotgun, with a relatively large effective “beam.” This would have added advantages like frying multiple drones with one pulse and not needing pinpoint tracking and aiming tech required for projectile and
laser-based weapons
. Depending on its range and directivity, THOR might come with the downside of collateral damage to electronics close to its line of fire.
Drone swarms
are of course the other side of this arms race, but fortunately they also have non-destructive uses like
lights shows
and perhaps even
3D printing
. | 39 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644686",
"author": "DerAxeman",
"timestamp": "2023-05-21T02:09:45",
"content": "Is it wrong to want a THOR of my very own?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6644701",
"author": "Claptrap",
"timestamp": "2023-05-... | 1,760,372,294.355159 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/20/an-elegant-solution-for-smart-home-device-integration/ | An Elegant Solution For Smart Home Device Integration | Danie Conradie | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"ESP8266",
"esphome",
"homeassistant"
] | Integrating non-smart devices into your home automation system can be a cumbersome process, involving the wiring of multiple modules. However,
[Pricelesstoolkit] has created the ESPClicker
— a compact, ESP8266-based module that can remotely “press buttons” and simplify this process.
The ESPClicker’s core feature is its three relays that can be soldered to the button terminals of any existing “dumb” device, as [Pricelesstoolkit] demonstrated with his coffee machine in the video after the break. One of the relays can also be configured in the normally closed configuration. A compact twelve pin connector provides a removable wiring interface for the buttons, additional relays, power and even a contactless power detector that can be wrapped around an AC wire.
[PricelessToolkit] has done several Home Assistant related projects, and we recently featured his little Home Assistant controlled guardian bot. We’ve also seen other project that make use of ESPHome, like a
iPod style scroll
wheel and a
LEGO train set
. | 49 | 14 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644667",
"author": "Cooper",
"timestamp": "2023-05-20T23:35:59",
"content": "I had this idea a few years ago. Also I thought it would be cool if manufacturers were required to provide a pin header for buttons on device or serial port with simple commands so if adding IOT was not in... | 1,760,372,294.222776 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/20/op-amp-challenge-mosfets-make-this-discrete-op-amp-tick/ | Op-Amp Challenge: MOSFETs Make This Discrete Op Amp Tick | Dan Maloney | [
"contests",
"Parts"
] | [
"cmos",
"mosfet",
"Op Amp Challenge",
"op-amp",
"Operational amplifier"
] | When it comes to our analog designs, op-amps tend to be just another jellybean part. We tend to spec whatever does the job, and don’t give much of a thought as to the internals. And while it doesn’t make much sense to
roll your own op-amp out of discrete components
, that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty to be learned from doing just that.
While we’re more accustomed to seeing [Mitsuru Yamada]’s digital projects, he’s no stranger to the analog world. In fact, this project is a follow-on to his
previous bipolar transistor
op-amp, which we featured back in 2021. This design features MOSFETs rather than BJTs, but retains the same basic five-transistor topology as the previous work, with a differential pair input stage, a gain stage, and a buffer stage. Even the construction of the module is similar, using his trademark perfboard and ultra-tidy wiring.
Also new is a flexible evaluation unit for these discrete op-amp modules. This very sturdy-looking circuit provides an easy way to configure the op-amp for testing in inverting, non-inverting, and transimpedance mode, selecting from a range of feedback resistors, and even provides a photodiode input. The video below shows the eval unit in action with the CMOS module, as well as highlights the excellent construction [Mitsuru Yamada] is known for.
Looking for some digital goodness? Check out
the PERSEUS-8
, a 6502 machine we wish had been a real product back in the day. | 9 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644627",
"author": "dianea",
"timestamp": "2023-05-20T21:19:42",
"content": "Very clean build that is a keeper for a lifetime!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6644687",
"author": "Mitsuru Yamada",
"timestamp":... | 1,760,372,294.47153 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/20/its-doom-but-in-teletext/ | It’sDOOM, But In Teletext | Jenny List | [
"classic hacks",
"Games"
] | [
"doom",
"teletext",
"Will It Doom?"
] | We’ve seen the 1993 id Software classic
DOOM
running on so many pieces of unexpected hardware, as “Will it run
DOOM
?” has become something of a test for any new device. But will it run in the circuitry of a 1970s or 1980s TV set? Not quite, but as [lukneu] has demonstrated,
it is possible to render the game using the set’s inbuilt Teletext decoder
.
Teletext is a technology past its zenith and which is no longer broadcast in many countries, but for those unfamiliar it’s an information service broadcast in the unseen lines hidden in the frame blanking period of an analogue TV transmission. Its serial data packets can contain both pages of text and rudimentary block graphics, and we’re surprised to learn, can include continuous streams to a single page. It’s this feature that he’s used, piping the game’s graphics as a teletext stream which is decoded by the CRT TV and displayed as a playable if blocky game.
Delving further, we find that
DOOM
is running on a Linux machine on which the teletext stream is created, and the stream is then piped to a Raspberry Pi which does the encoding on to its composite video output. More powerful versions of the Pi can run both processes on the same machine. The result can be seen in the video below, and we can definitely say it would have been mind-blowing, back when
DOOM
was king. There are plans for further refinement, of which we’d say that color would be the most welcome. | 22 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644582",
"author": "Pixelbrick",
"timestamp": "2023-05-20T18:13:07",
"content": "What a time to be alive!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6644586",
"author": "Jan",
"timestamp": "2023-05-20T18:23:24",
"content": "Br... | 1,760,372,294.638512 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/20/how-far-can-an-eula-go/ | How Far Can An EULA Go? | Elliot Williams | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Rants",
"Slider"
] | [
"advertising",
"free",
"newsletter"
] | We read this news with mixed glee and horror:
a company called Telly is giving TVs away
, for the low price of having to live with an always-on advertisement bar and some pretty stringent terms and conditions. Break the terms, and they’ll repossess your TV. If you don’t give them the TV, they have your credit card on record and they think the set is worth $1,000.
The hacker in me sees free hardware, so I checked out the
terms and conditions
, and it doesn’t look good. They’ve explicitly ruled out opening up or physically modifying the device, and it has to continually have WiFi – for which you pay, naturally. It sounds like it could easily tell if you try to tamper with it. My next thought was, perhaps too cynically, to get one, put it in the closet, and wait for the company to go bankrupt. Because you know that business model isn’t going to last.
But it’s clear that they’ve seen through me. The most bizarre clause is that you have to “Use the Product as the primary television in Your household”. Now, we’re not lawyers, but it seems like an amazing stretch that they can tell you how intensively you are to use the product. Can you imagine a license with a keyboard that demanded that you only use it to write sci-fi novels, or that you have to use it more than any other keyboard?
Nope. Too many hoops to jump through for a silly free TV. You can keep your dystopian future.
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
! | 70 | 23 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644508",
"author": "Alexander Pruss",
"timestamp": "2023-05-20T14:27:04",
"content": "I am not a lawyer, but looking at the TOS, there does not seem to be anything to block putting a cover over the advertising screen, as long as you don’t attach the cover to the device (as they pro... | 1,760,372,294.750185 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/19/faster-glacier-melting-mechanism-could-cause-huge-sea-level-rises/ | Faster Glacier Melting Mechanism Could Cause Huge Sea Level Rises | Lewin Day | [
"Current Events",
"Featured",
"News",
"Science",
"Slider"
] | [
"climate change",
"climate research",
"ice",
"ice melting",
"research",
"rising sea levels",
"sea level",
"sea level rise",
"sea levels",
"tidal",
"tides"
] | When it comes to the issue of climate change, naysayers often contend that we have an incomplete understanding of the Earth’s systems. While humanity is yet to uncover all the secrets of the world, that doesn’t mean we can’t act on what we know. In many cases, as climate scientists delve deeper, they find yet more supporting evidence of the potential turmoil to come.
In the stark landscapes of Greenland, a team of intrepid researchers from the University of California, Irvine, and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have unearthed
a hidden facet of ice-ocean interaction
. Their discovery could potentially flip our understanding of sea level rise on its head.
The Tide Is High
Scientists have been studying the Petermann glacier for some time. This photo was taken in 2013 about a year after a large iceberg broke away, pushing the glacier’s front significantly upstream. Credit:
NASA, public domain
As we grapple with the accelerating impacts of climate change, one of the greatest looming threats is that of rising sea levels. Melting sea ice is no threat, as it doesn’t cause sea levels to rise. Instead, the real problem is land ice, with the vast ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica acting as colossal water reservoirs.
As our planet heats up, these ice sheets melt into the ocean, causing sea levels to rise. This naturally comes with implications for humans. The greatest threat is to coastal communities, where increased flooding or total inundation could make some areas uninhabitable. There’s also the threat that sea level rises could render some agricultural land unusable due to increased salinity, affecting even those who live inland due to food scarcity.
Predicting the extent of sea level rise is a complex puzzle
, with many interconnected mechanisms at play. Researchers have to consider factors such as air temperatures, ocean currents, and the physical characteristics of the ice sheets themselves. But as this new research reveals, there might be more to the story.
A large iceberg was spotted calving away from Petermann Glacier in 2012. Glaciers lose mass by melt, sublimation, and by iceberg calving into the sea. Credit:
NASA, public domain
The scientists focused their study on the Petermann Glacier in northwest Greenland. Using
satellite radar data
, they found that the glacier’s “grounding line” – the point where the glacier detaches from the bedrock and begins to float in the ocean – moves substantially with the tidal cycles. This movement, significantly larger than expected, allows warm seawater to seep far underneath the glacier, accelerating ice melt. Data collected by researchers suggests that the grounding line is more of a “grounding zone” which migrates from 2 to 6 kilometers as the tide goes in and out.
In essence, the researchers discovered that warm seawater carves channels beneath the ice, particularly at the “grounding zone,” leading to increased melt rates. The team observed a dramatic example of this between 2016 and 2022, when the glacier’s grounding line retreated by 4 kilometers. In the process, a 670-foot-tall cavity formed underneath the glacier, carved out by retreating warm water.
This revelation defies the traditional understanding that these grounding lines remain static during tidal cycles and are immune to melt. The implications of these findings could be significant. The team suggests that if these overlooked ice-ocean dynamics were accounted for in models, estimates of future sea level rise could double. This isn’t just limited to Petermann Glacier – the same could apply to any glacier ending in the ocean. This includes glaciers across most of northern Greenland, as well as Antarctica in its entirety.
Warmer water tends to get under glaciers and melt them out from underneath. Now, researchers have discovered that the grounding line where melting occurs may actually move significantly with the tides, which would drastically accelerate sea level rises.
This suggests that the already serious problem of sea level rise may be even more urgent than we thought. We’re already aware that the Greenland ice sheet has lost billions of tons of ice over recent decades, largely due to warming subsurface ocean waters. The interactions between this warm water and the ice speed up glacier movement towards the sea, leading to more rapid ice loss.
As our understanding of the intricacies of climate change continues to grow, the Greenland research is a sobering reminder that some variables might remain hidden beneath the ice, so to speak. It’s a classic case of science in action: our models and predictions are only as good as our understanding of the systems involved. As we continue to investigate the depths of climate change, let this be a reminder that there’s always more to learn and that the quest for knowledge is never over, especially when the stakes are so high.
It would be a beautiful moment to find out that some previously-unknown mechanism meant that we would all be safe from the expected dangers of climate change. Sadly, though, most new research seems to confirm we’re in for a bad time, much of it saying the peril is on a more advanced timetable than previously thought. | 115 | 22 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644299",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2023-05-19T17:23:43",
"content": "Oh noooo! The models!Hurry up already, been waiting for my beachfront property since the 1970s.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6644543",
"autho... | 1,760,372,295.029449 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/19/hackaday-podcast-219-lots-of-lasers-heaps-of-ham-radio-and-breaching-the-blood-brain-barrier/ | Hackaday Podcast 219: Lots Of Lasers, Heaps Of Ham Radio, And Breaching The Blood Brain Barrier | Dan Maloney | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Podcasts"
] | [
"Hackaday Podcast"
] | Elliot and Dan teamed up for the podcast this week, bringing you the week’s sweetest hacks. And news too, as the ESA performed a little percussive maintenance on a Jupiter-bound space probe, and we learned about how to get an Orwellian free TV that exacts quite a price. We talked about Bitcoin mining two ways, including a way to put all that waste heat to good use — just don’t expect it to make good financial sense. Why would you stuff zip ties into a hot glue gun? It might just help with plastic repair. Lugging a tube transmitter up a mountain doesn’t sound like a good idea, but with the right design, it’s a lot of fun — and maybe you’ll be better able to tap into Schumann resonances while you’re up there.
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!
Download
a long series of ones and zeroes that, when appropriately interpreted, sound like two people talking about nerdy stuff
!
Where to Follow Hackaday Podcast
Places to follow Hackaday podcasts:
iTunes
Spotify
Stitcher
RSS
YouTube
Check
out our Libsyn landing page
Episode 219 Show Notes:
News:
A Free TV With A Catch: New Normal Or Inevitable Hardware Bonanza?
Mark Your Calendars, NASA Is Holding A Public Meeting On UFOs
ESA Juice’s RIME Antenna Breaks Free After Some Jiggling And Percussive Action
What’s that Sound?
If you think you know what this week’s sound was,
enter here
!
Interesting Hacks of the Week:
Artemis II Will Phone Home From The Moon Using Laser Beams
A Brief History Of Optical Communication
Gigabit Ethernet Through The Air
Hackaday Explains: Li-Fi & Visible Light Communications
Mike Ossmann And Dominic Spill: IR, Pirates!
Home Heating With Bitcoin Miners Is Now A Real Thing
DIY Programmable Guitar Pedal Rocks The Studio & Stage
An Opensource Arduino Guitar Pedal
Pedal-Pi, Simple Programmable Guitar Pedal
Laser Projector Built From An Old Hard Drive
16×8 Pixel Laser Projector
A Bicycle Powered By A Different Kind Of Eddy
The Peak Of Vacuum Tube Radio Design
Quick Hacks:
Elliot’s Picks:
Cornering The Antenna Market
This $12 CNC Rotary Axis Will Make Your Head Spin
Two Stage Refrigerator Is Chill
Dan’s Picks:
OScope Advert From 1987 Rocks It
Tiny Bitcoin Miner Plays The Lottery
Zippy Plastic Welding
Can’t-Miss Articles:
What Is A Schumann Resonance And Why Am I Being Offered A 7.83Hz Oscillator?
Microbubbles And Ultrasound: Getting Drugs Through The Blood-Brain Barrier | 0 | 0 | [] | 1,760,372,294.551841 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/19/custom-glove-guides-wearers-dreams/ | Custom Glove Guides Wearers’ Dreams | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Science",
"Wearable Hacks"
] | [
"audio",
"creativity",
"dream",
"dreaming",
"lucid",
"sensors"
] | For as much advancement as humanity has made in modern medicine even in the last century alone, there’s still plenty we don’t understand about the human body. That’s particularly true of the brain, where something as common as dreams are the subject of active debate about their fundamental nature, if they serve any purpose, and where they originate. One research team is hoping to probe a little further into this mystery, and has designed
a special glove to help reach a little deeper into the subconscious brain
.
The glove, called Dormio, has a number of sensors and feedback mechanisms which researchers hope will help explore the connection between dreaming and creativity. Volunteers were allowed to take a nap while wearing the glove, which can detect the moment they began entering a specific stage of sleep. At that point, the device would provide an audio cue to seed an idea into the dreams, in this case specifically prompting the sleeper to think about trees. Upon awakening, all reported dreaming about trees specifically, and also demonstrated increased creativity in tests compared to control groups.
While this might not have the most obvious of implications, opening the brain up to being receptive of more creative ideas can have practical effects beyond the production of art or music. For example, the researchers are also investigating whether the glove can help individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder manage nightmares. From a technical perspective this glove
isn’t much different from some other devices we’ve seen before
, and replicating one to perform similar functions might be possible for most of us willing to experiment on ourselves. | 6 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644282",
"author": "Upgrade pi-top [3]",
"timestamp": "2023-05-19T16:20:42",
"content": "Surprised Inception didn’t get a mention here 😉",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6644285",
"author": "Sambo",
"timestamp... | 1,760,372,295.364335 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/19/this-week-in-security-zip-domains-zip-scanning/ | This Week In Security: .zip Domains, Zip Scanning | Jonathan Bennett | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"News",
"Security Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"BlackLotus",
"Secure Boot",
"This Week in Security",
"zip"
] | The world may not be ready, but
the .zip Top Level Domain (TLD) is here
. It’s a part of the generic TLD category, which was expanded to allow applications for custom TLDs. Google has led the charge, applying for 101 such new TLDs, with .zip being one of the interesting ones. Public registration for .zip domains has been open for a couple weeks, and some interesting domains have been registered, like
update.zip
,
installer.zip
, and
officeupdate.zip
.
The obvious question to ask is
whether this new TLD can be abused for scamming and phishing purposes
. And the answer is
yes, sure it can
. One of the trickiest ways is to use the AT symbol
@
in a URL, which denotes user info at the beginning of the URL. It usually is used to include a username and password, like
http://username:password@192.168.1.1/
. That is pretty obvious, but what about
https://google.com@bing.com
? Still looks weird. The catch that really prevents this technique being abused is that slashes are disallowed in user data, so a abusive URL like
https://google.com∕gmail∕inbox@bing.com
is right out.
Except, take a look at that last link. Looks like it has slashes in it, so it should take you to google, and ignore the AT symbol. But it doesn’t, it goes to Bing. You may have guessed, it’s Unicode shenanigans again. Those aren’t slashes, they’re U2215, the division slash. And that means that a .zip TLD could be really sneaky, if the apparent domain is one you trust.
This is interesting reading regarding the .zip TLD. However, it's of near zero consequence to phishing attacks, read it first then I'll explain:
https://t.co/RoN3L2m61o
— Troy Hunt (@troyhunt)
May 17, 2023
Troy Hunt has some thoughts on the matter. The Godfather of compromised passwords points out that URLs are already ridiculously hard to parse at times, and once Unicode tricks are part of the problem, it’s basically impossible to tell a good URL by eye. His final gift:
attachment.zip
Scanning Inside Zips
[Andrew Brandt] discovered something odd, as a part of his security research. He uses Microsoft Sharepoint to share live samples of malware, always password protected with “infected”. Just recently
those files got flagged as containing malware in Sharepoint
.
For normal users, finding malware in zip files is great. For a security researcher, it’s a huge hassle. But how is the Sharepoint service looking inside encrypted zip files? It’s simple, Microsoft is automatically trying the most common passwords, as well as scraping user emails for obvious patterns like the password is “$password”. The default zip encryption in Windows, however, is notoriously insecure. Even so, it’s a bit unnerving for a cloud vendor to be automatically decrypting files in this manner.
Vulnerable Addons
There are a couple of high-priority vulnerabilities in web plugins this week. Up first is Essential Addons for Elementor, which
has a flaw allowing an unauthenticated user to take over any user’s account
. It’s a byproduct of the new password reset functionality, which fails to actually verify the password reset key. Considering that this WordPress plugin is installed on over a million sites, that’s a big problem. The flaw only exists between 5.4.0 and 5.7.2, with that release containing the fix. Make sure to patch right away, as this is a trivial problem, and now fully disclosed in the public.
And over on PrestaShop, there’s a really nasty problem in a module called
possearchproducts
. In that one,
an HTTP request can trigger an SQL injection attack
, leading to full admin access to the site. The worst part is this vulnerability is accessible even if the module is installed but not active on the site. It’s being actively used to steal credit card information. The author of this plugin seems to have abandoned development, and is not responding to attempts to contact, so this looks like one to uninstall right away.
BlackLotus Fallout
Secure Boot on Windows
has been broken by BlackLotus
. This technique was found in the wild, and announced just a couple weeks ago. Since then there’s been a patch and workaround found, allowing BlackLotus to continue to bypass Secure Boot, and start running malware very early in the boot chain.
The latest bypass takes advantage of existing secure boot binaries, that themselves have bugs, to get a toe-hold into the boot process. The solution is to add those binaries to the list of disallowed EFI binaries. The only problem is that those binaries are key to booting the Windows Install disks, and a handful of other tools. So the solution is to
roll the fix out very slowly
.
You can get the update now, but it’s a hassle, and intentionally so. In July
a second update will make the process simpler
, but still not revoke the binary signatures by default. And finally in 2024, the revocation update will roll out for everyone. If you’re not using it, this doesn’t really apply, but any user of Secure Boot for system integrity should take a close look at this one.
Bits and Bytes
IPv6 is the relatively new kid on the Internet Protocol block, and as such, there’s a bunch of code paths that haven’t been as well tested as their old, IPv4 cousins. It’s true in the Linux kernel as well, evidenced by
the remote kernel panic that can be induced by a single IPv6 packet
.
There’s
another vm2 escape this week
. This seems like an instance of one bug discovery leading to another, as
we covered vm2 escapes about a month ago
, too. This library is intended to allow running untrusted JavaScript code safely, and gets used by quite a few big vendors.
This escape is pretty simple
, and abuses error handling to get to real execution.
The Wemo Mini Smart Plug V2
has a FriendlyName problem
. Namely, that the bounds checking when setting said name happens in the browser, and sending an un-Friendly Name causes a buffer overflow. The overflow can be leveraged for Remote Code Execution, and could possibly be triggered via the Wemo cloud service. The device is passed its end of life, so no fixes are coming. On the plus side, these devices run an ancient fork of OpenWRT, so it seems like a great opportunity to jailbreak and update to a modern release. Happy Hacking! | 17 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644255",
"author": "abjq",
"timestamp": "2023-05-19T14:33:36",
"content": "for “SCANNING INSIDE ZIPS” perhaps Andrew could use a repeating large binary pattern, like an OTP but not “One time”, and XOR all the data with it. 1kB would do, it can be the same pattern, it’s just a ciphe... | 1,760,372,295.316579 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/19/building-a-giant-vacuum-tube-smart-lamp/ | Building A Giant Vacuum Tube Smart Lamp | Lewin Day | [
"LED Hacks"
] | [
"lamp",
"valve"
] | Vacuum tubes are pretty, which is why they’re often showcased externally on exquisitely-expensive home Hi-Fi hardware. But if you just want to gaze at their beauty without making any noise,
why not build this vacuum tube lamp from [Noel Törjék] instead
?
[Noel] got into some creative reuse with this build, with the main body consisting of a bell jar and wooden bowls. The internal structure is then created from jar lids, wire, metal sheeting, steel rods, and galvanized wire mesh. Simple modelling techniques are used to assemble the internal parts of the “valve,” including the grid and the electrodes and so on. As for light, [Noel] employed a ZigBee LED driver that he could control over his smart home setup via a Philips Hue bridge.
The final result looks like an extra-large tube. Anyone who knows what it is will spot that it’s not a real one, but they’re also exactly the audience that will appreciate it for what it is. Everyone else will probably just think you’ve taken an interest in strange art-deco replica lighthouses. It’s not the first time we’ve seen
replica valves around these parts
, though, and we’re sure it won’t be the last! | 12 | 9 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644238",
"author": "JDX",
"timestamp": "2023-05-19T13:50:14",
"content": "Make a lamp, sure.Make my own vacuum tube, on my list of things I’d like to try.Make a lamp that looks like a giant vacuum tube, that’s something I’d have never thought up.Nicely done!",
"parent_id": null... | 1,760,372,295.138092 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/19/north-korean-karaoke-machine-teardown/ | North Korean Karaoke Machine Teardown | Chris Lott | [
"Reverse Engineering",
"Teardown"
] | [
"arm",
"karaoke",
"North Korea"
] | Karaoke is a very popular pastime in Seoul — there are venues where you can sing on a stage, sing in rooms with your friends, and even sing solo in coin-operated karaoke booths on the bullet train. Apparently it is also popular in North Korea as well — [Martyn Williams] of the
North Korea Tech
blog
reported on an interesting teardown
by web hacker [Will Scott]. It is the Tianchi v700 machine, a Chinese product tailored for North Korean users, obtained online back in 2020.
Unlike the karaoke machines encountered by this author in South Korea, the v700 form factor is a 19.5-inch Android tablet with touch-screen and all the necessary interfaces you’d expect: external video, speakers, and microphone, as well as WiFi and Ethernet for content upgrade and online payment systems. Not surprisingly, the connectivity aspects of the machine are not used in the North Korean model, but with a large catalog of pre-loaded music, it’s perfectly usable as a stand-alone device.
[Will] dug into the innards of the machine and discovered it was powered by an Allwinner ARM processor (seemingly
the H6 V200, a quad-core ARM Cortex-A53
). He also found it uses a swappable external disk to hold the songs, but all the files were encrypted. You can read more details in the blog post linked above, but eventually he was successful in decoding the disk and accessing the material.
The V700 consults both “/proc/cpuinfo” to learn the CPU serial number of the device it is on, and a binary file associated with the device file system structure as part of its method for determining its AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) key. It then ignores all of these device-specific items, and reverts back to a static key “87654321” stored in the binary.
All the songs on the disk were
posted up on the Internet Archive
. Check them out if you’re curious what North Korean karaoke songs sound and look like. One video that caught our attention was about CNC machines (see the video linked below the break). [Martyn] has been covering technology issues related to North Korea since 2011. In 2016, he learned after the fact that his website had been banned by the South Korean authorities. Believing this was in error, he appealed the ban and
eventually prevailed in the courts
. We wrote about some of [Will]’s
research on consumer computing technology
back in 2017 if you’re interested in learning more. | 9 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644181",
"author": "Blaskkaffe",
"timestamp": "2023-05-19T08:56:52",
"content": "The North Koreans are on to something, there are way to few pop songs about CNC machining and automated production in the west!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
... | 1,760,372,295.259262 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/18/go-in-all-the-directions-with-omniwheeled-esp32-bot/ | Go In All The Directions With Omniwheeled ESP32 Bot | Danie Conradie | [
"News",
"Robots Hacks"
] | [
"ESP-Now",
"ESP32-S2",
"Omnidirectional Robot"
] | The ability to change direction without turning is the specialty of omnidirectional wheels, which [maker.moekoe] used to their full potential on a pair of
ESP32-controlled robots
. Video after the break.
Thanks to the rollers on the wheels, the wheels could be arranged at 120° in relation to each other on the 3-wheeler and 90° 4-wheeler. [maker.moekoe] used ChatGPT and a simple python simulation to find and verify the motor control algorithm required for smooth omnidirectional driving.
A single custom PCB incorporates all the electronics, and doubles as the robot’s chassis, with the geared brushed motors bolted directly to it. An
ESP32-S2
runs the show, and can also stream FPV video from the same OV2640 camera used on the popular
ESP32-cam
modules. The LiPo battery is held by a 3D-printed support plate screws to the bottom of the PCB. The robots can controlled by a simple web-app served by the ESP32, or a using the IMU on custom controller also built around an ESP32-S2 which uses the ESP-NOW wireless protocol.
Even though the robots’ software is still in the early stages, the movement looks extremely smooth and effortless. Plus, their all-in-one PCB chassis makes for an elegant and clean build | 18 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644151",
"author": "m1ke",
"timestamp": "2023-05-19T06:27:58",
"content": "Oh that tiny remote at the end, nice touch.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6644157",
"author": "Bo-Erik Sandholm",
"timestamp": "2023-05-19T06:... | 1,760,372,295.090608 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/18/an-entire-risc-v-operating-system-in-2000-lines/ | An Entire RISC-V Operating System In 2000 Lines | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"2000 lines",
"cornell",
"earth and grass",
"egos-2000",
"lines of code",
"operating system",
"os",
"RISC-V"
] | While Microsoft and Apple don’t release the source code for their operating systems, a good estimate is that it takes around 50 million lines of code to run these software behemoths. The Linux kernel alone holds around 30 million lines, with systemd containing over one million lines on its own, which doesn’t include estimates for the desktop environment or other parts of a standard installation. But millions of lines of code, or even hundreds of thousands, aren’t necessary for building a fully functioning operating system.
This one sets up a complete OS in exactly 2000 lines of code
.
Called egos-2000, short for Earth and Grass Operating System, the diminutive operating system is written for RISC-V computers and while it does contain most of the tools we would recognize in an OS, it was built specifically for computer science students by PhD candidate Yunhao Zhang. The slimmed-down operating system makes it possible for students to easily read and understand every feature of an operating system without it becoming too overwhelming, and can be easily used and modified to experiment with. The name itself comes from its design principles, where parts of the operating system that interact with hardware directly are part of the “Earth” layer and parts that don’t depend on hardware being placed in the “Grass” layer, with applications taking up a third layer.
The OS is available on
this GitHub page
under an MIT license and works on real RISC-V hardware as well as within various emulators. Building a complete operating system in so few lines of code is an impressive feat, and making it comprehensive enough to teach students with goes well beyond that accomplishment as well. Often when concepts in computer science are reduced to their bare minimum components, we end up with completely illegible (but interesting) experiments
like this programming language
instead. | 34 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644126",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
"timestamp": "2023-05-19T02:59:42",
"content": "ISTR, A.S. Tanenbaum had each student write an OS for a class he taught.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_S._Tanenbaum",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replie... | 1,760,372,295.210459 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/18/lte-sniffer-ferrets-out-cellular-communications/ | LTE Sniffer Ferrets Out Cellular Communications | Lewin Day | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"cell sniffing",
"cellphone",
"cellular network",
"cellular phone",
"LTE",
"radio",
"sdr"
] | LTE networks have taken over from older technologies like GSM in much of the world. Outfitted with the right hardware, like a software defined radio, and the right software, it’s theoretically possible to sniff some of this data for yourself.
The LTESniffer project was built to do just this.
LTESniffer is able to sniff downlink traffic from base stations using a
USRP B210 SDR
, outfitted with two antennas. If you want to sniff uplink traffic, though, you’ll need to upgrade to an X310 with two daughterboards fitted. This is due to the timing vagaries of LTE communication. Other solutions can work however, particularly if you just care about downlink traffic.
If you’ve got that hardware though, you’re ready to go. The software will help pull out LTE signals from the air, though it bears noting that it’s only designed to work with unencrypted traffic. It won’t help you capture the encrypted communications of network users, though it can show you various information like IMSI numbers of devices on the network. Local regulations may prevent you legally even doing this, and if so, the project readme recommends setting up your own LTE network to experiment with instead.
Cellular sniffing
has always been somewhat obscure and arcane, given the difficulty and encryption involved, to say nothing of the legal implications. Regardless, some hackers will always pursue a greater knowledge of the technology around them. If you’ve been doing just that, let us know what you’re working on
via the tipsline. | 8 | 4 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644128",
"author": "Anonymous",
"timestamp": "2023-05-19T03:07:28",
"content": "Takedown in 3…2…1…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6644146",
"author": "Andy",
"timestamp": "2023-05-19T05:44:02",
"conte... | 1,760,372,295.408006 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/18/toothbrush-speed-controller-secrets-revealed/ | Toothbrush Speed Controller Secrets Revealed | Lewin Day | [
"Misc Hacks"
] | [
"low voltage",
"teardown",
"toothbrush"
] | Typically, when we want to build something with a DC motor, we might grab a bunch of AAs, or a single lithium cell at the very least. Electric toothbrushes often run on more humble power sources, like a single NiMH battery. They’re designed to get useful motion out of just 1.2V,
and [Marian Hryntsiv] has taken a look at what makes them tick.
The article focuses on an electric toothbrush built around the
Low Voltage GreenPAK™ SLG47513
chip. It’s designed to work at voltages from just 1 to 1.65 V. To make the most of the limited power available, the toothbrush stays in sleep mode most of the time when it’s not working in oral health.
[Marian] steps through the various parts of the circuit, and also explains the unique functionality baked into the brush. Of particular interest are the timer routines that guide the user through brushing each section of the mouth in turn, before a notification that tells them that 2 minutes of brushing time has elapsed. There’s also a useful explanation of the inductive charging method used.
Electric toothbrushes may be mundane home items today, but they’re an example of a product that has largely already been optimized to the nth degree. Until laser-based plaque removal or
enamel regeneration technology
gets off the ground, this is as good as it gets. We can dream, though! | 21 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644043",
"author": "paulvdh",
"timestamp": "2023-05-18T21:20:56",
"content": "A few years ago I had to buy a new toothbrush because the batteries of my old one were worn out and I opened the old one (from braun) and it had an MSP430 in it. There are also plenty of teardowns of all... | 1,760,372,295.471914 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/18/big-tactile-button-is-silly-but-cool/ | Big Tactile Button Is Silly But Cool | Lewin Day | [
"Parts",
"Toy Hacks"
] | [
"button",
"giant",
"switch"
] | Every hacker is familiar with those teeny little tactile buttons that are so enjoyable to click over and over again. [ROBO HUB] has built a giant version as a tribute,
and it works just like the real thing!
The giant button has been scaled up 20 times compared to the original. For simplicity’s sake, [ROBO HUB] designed this replica to use materials readily available around the home. Thanks to its cardboard construction, it’s easy to replicate with a minimum of tools. One need merely cut out the various sections before assembling them together with hot glue, with popsicle sticks serving as the legs. A juice bottle is used as the primary button itself, with aluminium foil serving as the contacts and rubber bands standing in for the spring.
It’s not the most useful button, given that it it’s quite fragile and has a weak spring return. However, it would be a great teaching tool to show students exactly
what’s going on inside an actual button
. As a bonus, it looks like it would be remarkably fun to pound on to activate some kind of
massive air horn
. Just an idea. | 8 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6644000",
"author": "Modhappy",
"timestamp": "2023-05-18T18:50:06",
"content": "Cardboard is the gateway drug for makers!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6644110",
"author": "A",
"timestamp": "2023-05-19T01:07:... | 1,760,372,295.521129 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/18/supercon-2022-andy-geppert-is-bringing-core-memory-back/ | Supercon 2022: Andy Geppert Is Bringing Core Memory Back | Tom Nardi | [
"cons",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"2022 Hackaday Supercon",
"core memory",
"Core64",
"LED array",
"Magnetic-core memory",
"touch screen"
] | Many Hackaday readers will be familiar with the term “core memory”, likely thanks to its close association with the Apollo Guidance Computer. But knowing that the technology existed at one point and actually understanding how it worked is another thing entirely. It’s a bit like electronic equivalent to the butter churn — you’ve heard of it, you could probably even identify an image of one — but should somebody hand you one and ask you to operate it, the result probably won’t be too appetizing.
That’s where Andy Geppert comes in. He’s turned his own personal interest into magnetic core memory into a quest to introduce this fascinating technology to a whole new generation thanks to some modern enhancements through his
Core64 project
. By mating the antiquated storage technology with a modern microcontroller and LEDs, it’s transformed into an interactive visual experience. Against all odds, he’s managed to turned a technology that helped put boots on the Moon half a century ago into a gadget that fascinates both young and old.
In this talk at the 2022 Hackaday Supercon
, Andy first talks the audience through the basics of magnetic core memory as it was originally implemented. From there, he explains the chain of events that lead to the development of the Core64 project, and talks a bit about where he hopes it can go in the future.
The Core of Core Memory
So naturally the big question is: how does magnetic core memory actually work? If you’re familiar with the technology from the Apollo program, you probably know it involved weaving wires and was physically robust enough to make it to the Moon and back. But beyond that, it all seems a bit like magic, especially to modern eyes.
Each tiny core has three wires woven through it.
Yet in just a few minutes, Andy breaks down the basic principles in a remarkably approachable way. Of course, with his hand’s on experience, this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Given the number of Core64 units he’s personally assembled, there’s probably few people on the planet who’ve woven as much core memory as he has over the last few years.
As the name implies, core memory starts with ferrite cores…lots of them. Each core can be magnetized either clockwise or counterclockwise, which corresponds to either a zero or a one. Copper wires woven through the ferrites in the X and Y dimensions can flip the orientation of the core’s magnetic field when sufficiently energized, which allows “writing” to a specific bit in the array. A diagonally woven sense wire is used to detect when a core’s magnetic orientation has changed to read its value, but as this is a destructive operation, each read needs to be followed by a write if the data is to be preserved.
Scaling this concept up to increase the storage capacity of the array is easy, so long as you can address the number of wires required. In the 60s that could be a tall order, but luckily modern microcontrollers like the Raspberry Pi Pico offer plenty of GPIO, and transistors beefy enough to flip the magnetic orientation of each core come in SMD packages not much larger than the cores themselves.
In short, while the manual operation of weaving it is still just as much of a hassle as it was in the Apollo days, we now have the technology to shrink the support hardware down to the point where you can put 64 bits of core memory in the palm of your hand. Of course, that’s not terribly useful when you can get a 128 GB SD card that’s a fraction of the size. But then, as Andy discovered, core memory is capable of some tricks that make it a bit more interesting.
Adding an Interactive Twist
Andy found no shortage of information about magnetic core memory, and was even able to track down a few physical examples at different computer history museums. But none of that really compares to the experience of building it yourself, so he started looking for existing projects for inspiration.
That lead him to
Magnetic Core Memory Reborn
, a project from Ben North and Oliver Nash. Their work not only serves as a deep-dive into the process by which magnetic core memory works, but it also details the construction of a prototypical 32-bit memory array which can be accessed with a standard Arduino. While the duo didn’t seem interested in marketing the design themselves, they did provide all of the schematics and design files for others to build from.
Some more searching revealed that Jussi Kilpelainen had done just that, and produced a more compact version of their 32-bit Arduino array. Even better, he
made it available on Tindie as a kit
, which meant Andy could finally the hands-on experience with core memory he’d been searching for.
Drawing on an early version of the Core64
But as they say, anticipation is often more exciting than the final result. Once Andy had built Jussi’s core memory kit, he wasn’t quite sure what to do with it. Since the addition of LEDs makes everything better, he came up with the idea of placing them behind the array as a way to visualize the state of each core, and was even able to find an off-the-shelf LED module that was nearly the same dimensions and pitch as the weave.
After showing off this early version, the feedback he got was so positive he decided to take the plunge and design his own custom PCB that would bring these two very different technologies together in a larger 64-bit array.
According to Andy, it was simply by chance that he realized influencing the cores with a handheld magnet would allow you to “draw” on the LEDs behind them. That a magnet could flip the state of each core might seem obvious in retrospect, but if it wasn’t for the novel addition of the LED array behind them, it wouldn’t have had a practical application. What would have been considered a flaw in 1960 was now a feature.
Making Memory Fun
If you told one of the engineers behind the Apollo Guidance Computer that in 60 years, kids would actually be
playing
with the core memory they were currently working with, they would have thought you were nuts. But here we are.
By adding RGB LEDs to the back and putting a protective clear panel on the front, the Core64 turns an array of memory into a low resolution touch screen. From there the applications pretty much wrote themselves, such as a simple drawing application and versions of classic games like
Snake
. This interactive capability makes it a powerful educational tool, demonstrating early computing concepts in a way that’s relatable to modern audiences.
All told, it’s probably the most useful work anyone has ever managed to wring out of just 64-bits of RAM. | 22 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6643994",
"author": "a_do_z",
"timestamp": "2023-05-18T18:11:17",
"content": "“[…]likely thanks to its close association with the Apollo Guidance Computer[…]”Or, you know, just being that darned old.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_... | 1,760,372,295.700427 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/18/badminton-inspired-heat-shield-aims-to-fly-this-year/ | Badminton Inspired Heat Shield Aims To Fly This Year | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Space"
] | [
"badminton",
"birdie",
"heat shield",
"inspiration",
"reentry",
"shuttlecock",
"space",
"welsh"
] | Badminton is not a sport that most of us think about often, and extremely rarely outside of every four years at the summer Olympics and maybe at the odd cookout or beach party here or there. But the fact that it’s a little bit unique made it the prime inspiration for
this new heat shield design
, which might see a space flight and test as early as a year from now.
The inspiration comes from the shuttlecock, the object which would otherwise be a ball in any other sport. A weighted head, usually rubber or cork, with a set of feathers or feather-like protrusions mounted to it, contributes to its unique flight characteristics when hit with a racquet. The heat shield, called Pridwen and built by Welsh company Space Forge, can be folded before launch and then expanded into this shuttlecock-like shape once ready for re-entry. It’s unlikely this will protect astronauts anytime soon, though. The device is mostly intended for returning materials from the Moon or from asteroids, or for landing spacecrafts on celestial bodies with atmospheres like Mars or Venus.
With some testing done already, Space Forge hopes this heat shield will see a space flight before the close of 2023. That’s not the end of the Badminton inspiration either, though. It’s reported that this device can slow a re-entering craft so much that it can be caught in a net. Not exactly the goal when playing the sport, but certainly a welcome return home for whichever craft might use this system. Of course, getting down from space is only half the battle.
Take a look at this other unique spacecraft
that goes up in a fairly non-traditional way instead. | 15 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6643953",
"author": "Tom Brusehaver",
"timestamp": "2023-05-18T16:15:03",
"content": "Burt Rutan had a different implementation, but is quoted as using the shuttlecock as inspiration.Rutan’s “shuttlecock” design. This feathered reentry mode is claimed to be inherently safer than the... | 1,760,372,296.62506 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/18/revisiting-folk-wisdom-for-modern-chronic-wound-care/ | Revisiting Folk Wisdom For Modern Chronic Wound Care | Lewin Day | [
"Current Events",
"Featured",
"Medical Hacks",
"Science",
"Slider"
] | [
"chronic wounds",
"medical hacks",
"medicine",
"resin",
"spruce resin",
"wound",
"wound treatment"
] | In the constant pursuit of innovation, it’s easy to overlook the wisdom of the past. The scientific method and modern research techniques have brought us much innovation, which can often lead us to dismiss traditional cultural beliefs.
However, sometimes, there are still valuable kernels of truth in the folklore of yesteryear. This holds true in a medical study from Finland, which focused on the traditional use of spruce resin to treat chronic wounds, breathing new life into an age-old therapy.
A Persistent Dilemma
Chronic wounds are defined as wounds that fail to proceed through a normal, timely healing process. While there’s no strictly defined timescale, wounds are typically deemed as chronic if they don’t progress through healing milestones after four weeks to three months. These wounds pose a significant burden on global healthcare systems. They create a significant workload for healthcare personnel, and are costly and difficult to manage. Most of all, though, they impair the quality of life for patients, who suffer these wounds for great lengths of time.
Patients with chronic wounds often suffer from other chronic health conditions such as advanced age, malnutrition, or vascular diseases. These can complicate or exclude treatment options that would otherwise help with the issue. Treatment often becomes a delicate balance between managing the underlying co-morbidities and ensuring effective wound care. Any potential new treatment for chronic wounds could thus help many patients stuck in an uncomfortable medical quagmire.
An Ancient Solution with Modern Potential
Traditional medicine is rife with remedies that have been passed down through generations. Many of these have been studied, and found to be ineffective, snake oil, or simply not very helpful. Many, though, are yet to be thoroughly explored by modern science.
Resin is applied either directly over the wound, or onto a bandage that is then applied. Credit:
Jokinen, Sipponen
Among these traditional remedies is the resin of the Norway spruce (Picea abies), a sticky substance that has been used for centuries to treat various ailments. Researchers have turned their attention to this old-world remedy in recent decades, investigating its potential for modern wound care, inspired by its use by past generations.
As it turns out, spruce resin is a complex material, made up of a combination of various resin acids and other compounds known as lignans, which are believed to help plants discourage consumption by herbivores. However, they also have a host of other beneficial properties. These compounds exhibit strong antimicrobial activity, and have been found to promote wound healing and skin regeneration, essential elements in treating chronic wounds.
Of course, modern medicine isn’t about peeling something off a tree, rubbing it on, and hoping it helps. Instead, the research group has been working to quantify the mechanisms of action that make spruce resin a seemingly effective agent when it comes to healing chronic wounds.
The resin was able to prevent bacteria from undergoing mitosis, at times by thickening the cell walls to a significant degree, as seen in the second two images. Credit:
Jokinen, Sipponen
Research involved using resin samples to attack colonies of fungi and bacteria in agar plates, with liquid media experiments also conducted. This helped researchers qualify the antimicrobial properties of the resin, and determine which pathogens the resin could effectively fight. Other tests investigated the resin’s ability to protect against Staphylococcus aureus infection, with drug-resistant strains of the harmful bacteria currently causing great concern in hospitals across the world.
Findings bore out that the resin was capable of antimicrobial activity by virtue of the fact it could destroy the cell walls and cell membranes of bacteria. Other potential mechanisms include a disruption of the bacteria cell’s energy supply. Meanwhile, it’s believed the lignan component of the resin may also play a role. These chemicals have anti-oxidative properties which may be helpful, and it’s suspected they may undergo transformation into hormone-like substances in the wound environment via microbial metabolism. It’s believed they may then play a positive role in cellular regeneration in the wound area.
Application techniques were also explored, with the primary method involving spreading resin across a wound area before covering it with a bandage. Alternatively, it can be applied to a bandage and then placed upon a wound. Typically, dressings were left in place for one to three days depending on wound activity.
The research paper
also features multiple case studies where patients had excellent outcomes after resin treatment of chronic wounds, some of whom had been suffering for years. The before images make for gory viewing, but the after images show just how valuable this treatment can be. Further supporting this are the results of a 2012 clinical trial, in which all 23 patients successfully had their chronic wounds heal in a mean time of 43 days.
Looking Back To Look Ahead
In many ways, this research represents a meeting point of old and new. It’s a potent reminder that the wisdom of our ancestors can still guide us, that the pursuit of the novel doesn’t always have to mean discarding the old. As the medical community works to tackle the complex issue of chronic wound care, integrating this traditional remedy into modern treatment strategies could offer a much-needed breakthrough.
This blend of traditional knowledge and modern scientific rigor underscores the transformative potential of such research. It speaks to the value of tugging at old threads. Sometimes our forebearers really did know what they were talking about, even if they couldn’t explain it in detailed scientific terms. The healing power of the Norway spruce resin may well mark a significant step forward in chronic wound care, demonstrating how science can breathe new life into old wisdom. This journey from folkloric therapy to potential modern medical marvel continues, with each step bringing us closer to better patient outcomes.
(Header image:
Norway Spruce
, Norbert Frank, University of West Hungary, Bugwood.org) | 81 | 19 | [
{
"comment_id": "6643907",
"author": "mime",
"timestamp": "2023-05-18T14:13:37",
"content": "interesting. Any info on what kind of spruce? Or any spruce?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6643912",
"author": "ono",
"timestamp": "... | 1,760,372,296.197032 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/18/drone-flies-for-five-hours-with-hydrogen-fuel-cell/ | Drone Flies For Five Hours With Hydrogen Fuel Cell | Lewin Day | [
"drone hacks"
] | [
"drone",
"fuel cell",
"hydrogen",
"hydrogen fuel cell"
] | Multirotor drones have become a regular part of daily life, serving as everything from camera platforms to inspection tools and weapons of war. The vast majority run on lithium rechargeable batteries, with corresponding limits on flight time. A company called Hylium hopes to change all that with a
hydrogen-powered drone that can fly for up to five hours.
The drone uses a hydrogen fuel cell to provide electricity to run the drone’s motors and other electronic systems. Thanks to the energy density advantage of hydrogen versus lithium batteries, the flight time can be greatly extended compared to conventional battery-only drones. Details are scant, but the company has gone to some lengths to build out the product beyond a simple tech demonstrator, too. Hylium touts useful features like the short five-minute refueling time. The drone also reportedly features a night vision camera and the capability to transmit video over distances up to 10 kilometers, though some of the video of these features appears to be stock footage.
Hylium claims the liquid hydrogen canister used for the drone is drop-safe in the event of a problem. Notably, the video suggests the company tested this by dropping the canister concerningly close to an active motorway, but from what we see, nothing went awry.
A drone that can fly for five hours would be particularly useful for autonomous surveillance and inspection roles. The additional loiter time would be advantageous in these roles.
We’ve seen other aero experimenters exploring the use of hydrogen fuel cells, too
. | 82 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6643858",
"author": "CRJEEA",
"timestamp": "2023-05-18T11:07:44",
"content": "Third time?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6643861",
"author": "CRJEEA",
"timestamp": "2023-05-18T11:15:44",
"content": "I wonder how mu... | 1,760,372,295.963757 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/18/a-vintage-polaroid-camera-goes-manual/ | A Vintage Polaroid Camera Goes Manual | Jenny List | [
"classic hacks",
"digital cameras hacks"
] | [
"camera shutter",
"land camera",
"pack film",
"polaroid",
"shutter"
] | There once was a time when all but the most basic of fixed focus and aperture cameras gave the photographer full control over both shutter speed and f-stop. This allowed plenty of opportunity to tinker but was confusing and fiddly for non-experts, so by the 1960s and ’70s many cameras gained automatic control of those functions using the then quite newly-developed solid state electronics. Here in 2023 though, the experts are back and want control. [Jim Skelton]
has a vintage Polaroid pack film camera he’s using with photographic paper as the film, and wanted a manual exposure control
.
Where a modern camera would have a sensor in the main lens light path and a microcontroller to optimize the shot, back then they had to make do with a CdS cell sensing ambient light, and a simple analog circuit. He considered adding a microcontroller to do the job, but realized that it would be much simpler to replace the CdS cell with a potentiometer or a resistor array. A 12-position switch with some carefully chosen resistor values was added, and placed in the camera’s original battery compartment. The final mod brought out the resistors and switch to a plug-in dongle allowing easy switching between auto and switched modes. Result – a variable shutter speed Polaroid pack camera!
Sadly the film for the older Polaroid cameras remains out of production, though the Impossible Project in the Netherlands — now the heirs to the Polaroid name — brought back some later versions
and have been manufacturing them since 2010
. Hackers haven’t been deterred though and have produced conversions using Fuji Instax film and camera components, as with
this Polaroid portrait camera
, and [Jim]’s own
two-camera-hybrid conversion
. | 5 | 3 | [
{
"comment_id": "6643844",
"author": "Gregg Eshelman",
"timestamp": "2023-05-18T10:17:11",
"content": "Too bad the new film from the impossible project is thicker than the original. In their new packs they can only fit 8 shots VS Polaroid’s 10. I’ve not found any information on what they use for bat... | 1,760,372,295.84348 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/17/machining-a-golf-ball-to-make-a-lovely-tactile-volume-knob/ | Machining A Golf Ball To Make A Lovely Tactile Volume Knob | Lewin Day | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"golf ball",
"jig",
"machining",
"volume control"
] | Golf balls are wonderfully tactile things. They have a semi-grippy covering, and they’re a beautiful size and weight that sits nicely in the hand. Sadly, most of them just get smacked away with big metal clubs. [Jeremy Cook] recognized their value as a human interface device, though,
and set about turning one into a useful volume knob.
The trick here is in the machining. [Jeremy] used a 3D printed jig to hold a golf ball tightly in place so that it could be machined using a milling machine. With the bottom taken off and a carefully-designed 3D printed insert in the bottom, the golf ball is ready to be used as a knob for a volume control. As for the hardware side of things, [Jeremy] used an existing USB keypad, fitting the golf ball onto the encoder for volume and seek control in various programs.
The results sadly weren’t ideal. While the golf ball sits nicely upon the encoder, [Jeremy] found the device uncomfortable to use. Size may be an issue, but we also suspect the crowding of the surrounding buttons has a role to play. It forces the wrist into an uncomfortable curve to access the ball without hitting the surrounding controls. Without that, it may be greatly improved.
Files are available
for those wishing to make their own. We don’t get a lot of
golf ball builds
here on Hackaday, but we’d love to see more. Hit up
the tipsline
if you’ve got ’em. Video after the break. | 11 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6643808",
"author": "David",
"timestamp": "2023-05-18T06:57:59",
"content": "Why not just 3D print a knob? Brass shaft inserts with set screws are cheap and can be installed with the tip of a soldering iron. A sphere like a golf ball might be the least desirable shape I could imag... | 1,760,372,296.463833 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/17/not-just-atp-two-component-molecular-motor-using-gtpase-cycle-demonstrates-mechanotransduction/ | Not Just ATP: Two-Component Molecular Motor Using GTPase Cycle Demonstrates Mechanotransduction | Maya Posch | [
"Science"
] | [
"ATP",
"GTP",
"GTPase",
"molecular biology",
"molecular motor"
] | For most of us who haven’t entirely slept through biology classes, it’s probably no secret that ATP (adenosine triphosphate) is the compound which provides the energy needed for us to move our muscles and for our body to maintain and repair itself, yet less know is guanosine triphosphate (GTP). Up till now GTP was thought to be not used for mechanical action like molecular motors, but
recent research
by Anupam Singh and colleagues in
Nature Physics
(
press release
) has shown that two
GTPase
hydrolase enzymes (Rab5 and EEA1) function effectively as a reversible molecular motor.
Although much of the heavy lifting in the body has shifted to use ATP with ATPases such as myosin and kinesin, GTPases have retained their functional roles in mostly signal transduction (acting as switches or timers), a tethered EEA1 enzyme performs mechanical force when a Rab5 enzyme (in its activated, GTP state) binds to it. Within e.g. a cell this can pull membranes and other structures together. Most importantly, the researchers found that no external influence was necessary for the inactive (GDP) Rab5 enzyme to separate and EEA1 to revert back to its original state, completing a full cycle.
This discovery not only gives us another intriguing glimpse into the inner workings of biological systems, but also increases our understanding of how these molecular motors work, opening intriguing possibilities for constructing our own synthetic structures such as protein engines, where mechanical movement is needed on scales which require such molecular motors.
(Heading image: Binding of the Rab5(GTP) to EEA1 triggers a transition of the EEA1 molecule from a rigid, extended state to a more flexible, collapsed state. (Credit: Anupam Singh et al., 2023) ) | 15 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6643802",
"author": "craig",
"timestamp": "2023-05-18T04:07:13",
"content": "I know this will get deleted but…Rehashing the claims made by press releases for scientific papers is meaningful to a very few, and even for me who straight did my PhD studying ATPase (and some GTPase enzym... | 1,760,372,296.417967 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/17/inside-a-current-probe/ | Inside A Current Probe | Al Williams | [
"Repair Hacks",
"Teardown"
] | [
"current probe",
"tektronix"
] | [The Signal Path] had two Tektronix AC/DC current probes that didn’t work. Of course, that’s a great excuse to tear them open and
try to get at least one working
. You can see how it went in the video below. The symptoms differed between the two units, and along the way, the theory behind these probes needs some exploration.
The basic idea is simple, but, of course, the devil is in the details. A simple transformer doesn’t work well at high frequencies and won’t work at all at DC. The solution is to use a hall effect sensor to measure DC and also to feed it back to cancel coil saturation.
By switching transformer assemblies between the probes, he found that one worked and one did not. So the next step was to examine the assembly to see if anything was obviously wrong with it. There was also a plastic piece broken on both probes that needed replacing, but that didn’t seem like a difficult problem to surmount compared to the electronic problem.
Fortunately, having a good transformer allowed him to compare readings to determine any problems. The hall effect sensor appeared bad, but taking the module apart destroyed it. On the other hand, we get to see what’s inside. Unfortunately, something in the repair operation broke the working module. It would intermittently work with some pressure, but for the most part, it suddenly had the same symptom as the other module. [The Signal Path] speculates that the pressure of reassembly damaged the same connection to the hall effect.
It isn’t pretty, but you can
make your own probe for considerably less
. There are some
attractive homebrew units
, too. | 1 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6643922",
"author": "smellsofbikes",
"timestamp": "2023-05-18T14:57:03",
"content": "The stupid plastic closers on these break regularly and it’s really difficult to replace them without damaging the probe, even if you can find replacement parts. And if the closer breaks the probe ... | 1,760,372,296.505398 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/17/cheaper-sodastream-with-a-big-co2-tank-is-a-semi-dangerous-way-to-save/ | Cheaper Sodastream With A Big CO2 Tank Is A Semi-Dangerous Way To Save | Lewin Day | [
"home hacks"
] | [
"bubbles",
"carbon dioxide",
"sodastream"
] | Sodastream machines are a fun way to turn tap water into carbonated water. However, the canisters are expensive and generally require a trip to the store to get a replacement. Lifehacker has a workaround
that may make life easier for the bubble-addicted set.
The trick is simple: simply buy a larger bottle of CO2, and hook it up to the Sodastream in place of the regular cartridge. CO2 can be bought in large cylinders at a far cheaper rate than Sodastream will charge you for their proprietary canisters. All you need is a local supplier of food-grade CO2 in cylinders, and you can visit them when you need a refill or swap.
There are several caveats, though, which the comment section dicussed when
we featured a similar hack before.
Getting an extra-large CO2 canister can pose a risk to life if there’s a leak. Alarms may not save you as the heavy gas has a tendency to lurk low to the ground. You should also consider using a regulator to lower the pressure from your large canister to something closer to the levels the Sodastream machine is built to withstand. Beyond that, you want to ensure you’re using food-grade CO2. Don’t go bubbling cheap welding gas through your water if you want to live a long and healthy life.
It’s a neat hack, it’s just one that requires you to practice proper gas safety at all times. Reports are that a cylinder costing less than $200 can last you for several years though, with ultra-cheap refills, so it may indeed be worth the hassle! Go forth and bubble, friends. | 72 | 20 | [
{
"comment_id": "6643720",
"author": "Martin",
"timestamp": "2023-05-17T20:10:59",
"content": "Eh. I have a $50 adapter and a $180 siphon-tube 20lb tank in the garage. I drink enough soda water to go through a CO2 tank at least twice a year. I just refill the 1lb bottles with the adapter. That s... | 1,760,372,296.362466 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/17/active-racing-simulator-pedal/ | Active Racing Simulator Pedal | Danie Conradie | [
"Peripherals Hacks"
] | [
"3d printed",
"racing simulation",
"servo motor"
] | Racing virtual cars from behind a PC monitor might be cheaper than doing it in the real world, but high-end sim racing peripherals still come with high-end prices. With the increasing popularity of force-feedback pedals [Tristan Fenwick] built built an
active pedal
that can provide significant resistance.
[Tristan] integrated a load cell into the 3D printed pedal linkage, which is connected to a 130 W NEMA23 servo motor via a 8 mm lead screw. With constant feedback from the load cell, a simple PID controller running on an Arduino to actively adjust the pedal’s position and the amount of resistance it provides.
At ~$250 in parts, it’s a significantly more affordable than the $2300 price tag on a single Simucube pedal, which served as inspiration for this project. There are still some issues to address, such as shaky ADC readings and a lack of computing power on the Arduino, the demo video after the break looks incredibly promising. [Tristan] also notes that 300 kg is overkill and a slightly smaller servo motor would probably also work.
For more incredible simulator inspiration, check out the
A-10 Warthog cockpit
, a
3D printed flight sim yoke and pedals
, and a
tank driving simulator
from before the age of computer graphics. | 11 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6643709",
"author": "hmsdfo",
"timestamp": "2023-05-17T19:20:42",
"content": "I can imagine this kind of feedback mechanizm could be adapted into remote-controlled toilet seat. It could always keep the seat tilted just beyond it’s centre of gravity. Fun challenge not to hit it when ... | 1,760,372,296.245727 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/17/change-of-plans-for-new-horizons-sparks-debate/ | Change Of Plans ForNew HorizonsSparks Debate | Tom Nardi | [
"Space"
] | [
"deep space",
"Kuiper Belt",
"New Horizons",
"Pluto"
] | In 2015 NASA’s
New Horizons
spacecraft provided humanity with the first up-close views of Pluto, passing just 12,472 km (7,750 mi) from the surface. What had always been little more than a fuzzy blip at the edge of the solar system could finally be seen in stunning high resolution. Unfortunately, the deep space probe could only provide us with a relatively fleeting glimpse at the mysterious dwarf planet — the physics of such a distant interplanetary flight meant the energy required to slow down and enter orbit around Pluto was beyond the tiny spacecraft’s abilities.
The craft, often described as being roughly the size and shape of a grand piano, raced past Pluto and its moons at a relative velocity of approximately 49,600 km/h (30,800 mph) and headed out in the direction of Sagittarius. The incredible rate at which
New Horizons
traveled officially put it on track to be just the fifth spacecraft to leave the solar system, after the
Pioneer
and
Voyager
probes. Even so, its onboard systems were still in good health, and if given a sufficiently distant target, the $700 million craft was ready and able to collect more data.
Pluto, as seen by
New Horizons
Accordingly, almost exactly a year after it flew over Pluto,
New Horizons
officially received a mission extension from NASA. As it blasted through deep space, the craft would seek out and study as many objects as it could in the region of space known as the Kuiper belt. Given that there are no current plans to send other spacecraft through this distant area of the outer solar system, New Horizons was uniquely positioned to make what could be once-in-a-lifetime observations.
Or at least, that was the plan. Recently,
notes from a May 4th meeting
of the Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG) were released that revealed NASA’s plans to redirect
New Horizons
from its work in the Kuiper belt to focus on heliospheric science in 2025. Those in attendance said the meeting became “heated” as New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern questioned the logic of potentially changing the craft’s mission this late in the game.
Needle in a Haystack
To be fair, NASA’s logic for reassigning
New Horizons
does make sense. The space agency believes that the chances of the probe running into objects worth studying go down as the spacecraft gets farther and farther away. After all, space is mindbogglingly large. Despite how an artist’s representation of areas like the asteroid belt might appear, the distance between individual objects is immense. Further complicating matters it the fact that many of these Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) are relatively tiny, measuring just 30 to 55 km (19 to 34 mi) in diameter.
But even if there were plenty of fascinating objects in front of
New Horizons
, the craft itself is limited in the sort of course corrections it’s capable of. For the same reasons it couldn’t stop at Pluto, it can’t make very large changes to its trajectory, and even “small” changes can be very expensive from a propellant perspective. Accordingly, as of the last survey in November 2020, no notable KBOs were found along the probe’s current trajectory.
On the other hand, simply flying through this area of space exposes it to an environment we’ve had little chance to study. In the
2022 NASA Planetary Mission Senior Review
, several areas in which New Horizons could make important scientific contributions thanks to its extreme distance are listed.
Current power and propellant usage estimates indicate that New Horizons should remain fully operational until at least the 2030s. By this time, it will likely have passed through the bulk of the Kuiper belt. NASA’s argument is that, while not technically designed for it, the probe’s remaining life would be better spent making valuable astrophysics and heliophysics observations than chasing down dwarf planets and other KBOs, which it may never find.
Kuiper Accomplishments
486958 Arrokoth
While it’s increasingly likely
New Horizons
won’t make any more close passes of Kuiper belt objects, the probe has certainly kept itself busy since its flyby of Pluto in 2015.
In January 2019, it made a close approach to 486958 Arrokoth — the farthest and most primitive solar system object to be directly observed by a spacecraft. Known as a contact binary, Arrokoth is the result of two objects gravitating so close to each other that they touch and become one. The peanut-shaped object was completely unknown until 2014, but thanks to the sensors aboard New Horizons, we have a surprisingly complete record of its geology.
While none of them have been as closely observed as Arrokoth,
New Horizon
has since imaged dozens of objects from its unique vantage point. Due to their small size, many of these objects would have been all but undetectable with existing telescopes.
On the other hand, some of the objects, such as the dwarf planet Haumea and Neptune’s largest moon Triton, were observed from an incredible distance. Images were even taken of nearby stars Proxima Centauri and Wolf 359, which, when combined with images taken from Earth, were able to demonstrate stellar parallax for the first time.
In short, while the future of
New Horizons
may remain uncertain, it has already far exceeded its original mission and will certainly be regarded as one of the most successful interplanetary probes ever launched. From its history-making study of Pluto to the closest observations we’ll likely ever get of distant solar system objects, the craft has certainly kept itself busy in the vast expanse of deep space. Regardless of what happens from 2025 on, the legacy of the
New Horizons
mission is beyond reproach.
New Horizons
joins an elite club of human spacecraft operating far from home. We often wonder how
Voyager is still talking
after all this time. We’ve also peeked at some of the engineering behind
Pioneer
. | 13 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6643705",
"author": "cliff",
"timestamp": "2023-05-17T19:02:28",
"content": "“Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to space.” Douglas Adams",... | 1,760,372,296.568435 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/17/learn-how-impossibly-close-fitting-parts-are-actually-made/ | Learn How Impossibly Close-fitting Parts Are Actually Made | Donald Papp | [
"cnc hacks"
] | [
"metalworking",
"precision",
"wire EDM"
] | Most of us have seen those demonstrations of metal parts that mate together so finely that, once together, they have no visible seam at all. But how, exactly, is this done? [Steve Mould] has
a video that shows and explains all
, and we’ve never seen the process explained quite like he does.
The secret ingredient is wire EDM, or Electrical Discharge Machining, but that’s only one part of the whole. Wire EDM works a bit like a hot-wire cutter slicing through foam, but all by itself that’s not enough to produce those impossibly close-fitting parts we love to see.
EDM is capable of astounding precision in part because — unlike a cutting tool — nothing physically contacts the material. Also, there isn’t a lot of friction and heat causing small distortions of the material during the machining process. EDM is as a result capable of fantastically-precise cuts, but not invisible ones.
It’s pretty neat to see a water jet used to thread the fine wire through the workpiece.
In all good manufacturing, the capabilities (and limitations) of the tool are taken into account, and this is also true for making those close-fitting pieces. The hole and plug are actually made in two separate stages.
The hole is cut separately from the plug, and because EDM is capable of such finesse, the cuts can be made in such a way that they complement one another with near-perfection. After that, grinding and polishing takes care of the surface finish. The result is the fantastically-smooth and apparently seamless fitment we like so much.
The video is embedded below, and there are some great details about EDM and how it actually works in there. For example, we see how a wire EDM machine can use a jet of water to help thread the wire through a hole in the part to start a job, and we learn that the wire is constantly moving during the process.
As cool as wire EDM is, it is not magic and we’ve seen some pretty remarkable efforts at
bringing the technology into the home workshop
. | 15 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6643673",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2023-05-17T15:55:30",
"content": "I did wonder how they got the wire into the middle of a chunk of metal in the first place. Figured they must have drilled a hole and threaded it through, then cut out from there. The water jet is clever.",
... | 1,760,372,296.68631 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/17/two-factor-authentication-apps-mistakes-to-malware/ | Two Factor Authentication Apps: Mistakes To Malware | Elliot Williams | [
"Featured",
"Interest",
"Security Hacks",
"Slider"
] | [
"authenticator",
"oath",
"password",
"totp"
] | Everyone in security will tell you need two-factor authentication (2FA), and we agree. End of article? Nope. The devil, as always with security, is in the details. Case in point: in the last few weeks, none less than
Google messed up with their Google Authenticator app
. The security community screamed out loud, and while it’s not over yet, it looks like
Google is on the way to fixing the issue
.
Since 2FA has become a part of all of our lives – or at least it should – let’s take a quick dip into how it works, the many challenges of implementing 2FA correctly, what happened with Google Authenticator, and what options you’ve got to keep yourself safe online.
You probably know or use Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, or an app like Authy. What all of these authenticator apps have in common is the generation of a time-dependent six digit number, given a secret key. Perhaps you scanned that secret key into your phone in the form of a QR code? If any of the above sounds familiar, you’ve used a
time-based one-time password
(TOTP).
Under the Hood
What goes on under the hood with TOTP is nothing secret, and in fact you can
do it yourself in just a few lines of Python if you’d like to
. Basically, it’s taking the secret key, hashing it with a timestamp, and pulling six digits out of the result. The server to which you’re authenticating also has the secret key and a clock, does the same computation, and if they match, it knows that you are you!
This is a great system because a new six-digit “password” is regenerated every 30 seconds or so, which makes it impossible to guess before it expires. Using a one-way hash of the secret and the time ensures that even if an attacker is listening in, they can’t generate the next key, or figure out your secret key from the intercepts. And even if you get phished into typing your six-digit TOTP into a bad web site, it’s a one-time password, so the damage is limited to that one login. (Of course, if they can wipe out your bank account in that one login…)
The underlying secret key in the TOTP is longer and more random than any password a human would choose, and if you’re like most people you haven’t ever even seen it – it’s in that QR code you scanned. So the TOTP secret key is a good password, and it’s only stored in two places: your phone and the server to which you’re authenticating. And therein lies the rub. What happens when you lose your cell phone?
Backing Up
Most authenticator apps have a method of backing up the secret key to another device. The most common is to generate a QR code with your secret key so that you can just take a picture of phone one with phone two. That way, only someone looking over your shoulder at that exact moment can steal the key. But what if you want to back the secret up to the cloud? That’s where Google Authenticator got into trouble.
The secret key is a secret, and in the case of a 2FA token, it’s probably a secret that you really care about. What do you normally do when you send or store secrets? You encrypt them, right? Guess what Google
didn’t
do when sending the secret key between your phone and their server!
How should cloud backup be done right? It
should be end-to-end encrypted
. That is to say, on phone one, you should have to type in yet another password to encrypt it before it’s sent out to Google. On the receiving phone two, you enter that same password again to decrypt the TOTP secret. In the middle, Google or anyone else listening in would have to break your encryption to steal the TOTP secret, and you have the convenience of the cloud.
What could go wrong with Authenticator sending the keys in plain text? For one, you might not want to trust Google with your TOTP secret keys. Of course, if you’re using Google Authenticator
only
to log into Google, they have the secret key already. But if you’re storing all your TOTP keys
in one basket
in one convenient app, then Google (or anyone who hacks Google) has access to your bank account too. If Authenticator let you encrypt the keys before backing them up, you wouldn’t have to trust Google at all. Or mostly not.
Trusting TOTP
Authenticator apps are a strange bargain. On the one hand, they provide a non-repeating login that will help defeat eavesdroppers. On the other hand, the secret needs to be used in an unhashed form, both on your phone and on the server that authenticates it. This means that there’s not a super-safe way to store them on the server side,
unlike regular passwords which can be stored salted and hashed
. So the safety of your TOTP keys relies on the authentication server not getting hacked. Your TOTP keys are much more vulnerable to a server database breach than a regular password.
The TOTP key is also stored in some kind of readable form on your phone. Maybe it’s encrypted with another secret key, but if someone smart got you phone, you’re probably cooked. Worse, this means that you have to trust the TOTP app. Unsurprisingly, there are numerous cases of
malware authentication apps
out there that simply steal your TOTP secret.
But you also have to trust the authenticator app to respect your privacy. While in principle a TOTP can be generated without any Internet access, and indeed that’s what hardware tokens like the
Yubikey
do, most cellphone-based authenticator apps phone home. Particularly egregious among these, Microsoft Authenticator
sends personally identifiable data about you back to Microsoft even before you’ve accepted the terms and conditions
, and does so afterwards when you use it. Authy may be even worse,
transmitting which websites you’re logging into
. (Video link, great explainer.) It’s not clear whether the info that Google Authenticator sends home identifies you uniquely, but it’s definitely more than is necessary for the software to function, which is none.
Open Source
This all sounds pretty bleak for 2FA. On the one hand, backup can be difficult, or hard to get right. On the other, the companies that provide you the software are spying on you. Should you just give up?
Nope! Remember, the TOTP system is open and even simple to implement, and there are many open-source apps out there that don’t invade your privacy. RedHat’s
FreeOTP
runs on iOS and Android, and would be our first choice if we didn’t roll our own.
Aegis Authenticator
also comes well recommended, but only runs on Android. There must be others, so if you have a favorite, chime in! | 58 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6643674",
"author": "jaros199",
"timestamp": "2023-05-17T15:57:33",
"content": "Real security come from a TOTP+PIN for authentication.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6643744",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp... | 1,760,372,296.789901 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/17/mythic-i-an-exploration-of-artisanal-computing/ | Mythic I: An Exploration Of Artisanal Computing | Tom Nardi | [
"Art",
"computer hacks"
] | [
"carved",
"desktop computer",
"hand tools",
"terminal",
"woodworking"
] | While computers have become ever faster and more capable over the years, it’s hard to say they’ve become any more exciting. In fact, they’ve become downright boring. Desktop, laptop, or mobile, they’re all more or less featureless slabs of various dimensions. There’s not even much in the way of color variation — the classic beige box is now available with white, black, or metallic finishes.
Believing that such a pedestrian appearance isn’t befitting a device that puts the world’s collected knowledge at our fingertips,
[Keegan McNamara] started exploring a more luxurious approach to computing
. Gone is the mass produced injection molded plastic, in its place is hand-carved maple and Tuscan leather. Common computing form factors are eschewed entirely for a swooping console inspired by fine furniture and classic sports cars. The final result, called the Mythic I, is equal parts art and science. Not just a bold reimaging of what a computer can be, but an object to be displayed and discussed.
Carving the enclosure with hand tools.
The write-up [Keegan] has prepared is a fascinating treatise on modern design and metaphysics that gives a unique insight into the thought process that went into the Mythic I computer. Those looking for slightly more technical details can check out the accompanying
post on the forevercomputer mailing list
.
Unfortunately we weren’t able to find any internal shots of the construction, but the mailing list post at least explained that it’s powered by an Intel NUC running a minimal Linux system which includes little more than wordgrinder. Sorry, the vi and emacs debate will have to go somewhere else.
Networking has been disabled to provide a distraction-free writing experience, though frankly, we’d have thought getting dumped into a Bash prompt at boot would already provide such an environment. To get files off of the system, [Keegan] wrote up a few scripts to simplify moving documents to and from a USB flash drive.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen somebody attempt to
create a more visually appealing desktop computer
, but it’s certainly one of the most attractive and professionally done specimens to have graced these pages. | 14 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6643585",
"author": "The Commenter Formerly Known As Ren",
"timestamp": "2023-05-17T11:10:11",
"content": "Beautiful!Though I wonder how ergonomic the keyboard would be if I used one.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6643591",
... | 1,760,372,296.848032 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/17/cornering-the-antenna-market/ | Cornering The Antenna Market | Al Williams | [
"Radio Hacks"
] | [
"antenna",
"corner reflector"
] | Sometimes antennas can seem like black magic. However, when you see things like a dish antenna, it sort of makes sense, right? Just like a mirror focuses light, the parabola of a dish focuses RF energy. But [IMSAI Guy] shows another common-sense antenna arrangement: a corner reflector dipole. He had built one years ago and decided to do a bit of research and
make another one
.
In a clever use of copper-clad board, he was able to make a reasonable reflector by soldering together three boards and an RF connector. A single wire makes the “driven element,” and by bending it to just the right position, you can change the characteristic impedance for matching.
The antenna, in this case, is essentially a quarter-wave antenna with a ground plane and reflector arrangement. After the obligatory chalk talk, he breaks out the vector network analyzer and shows how well it matches. He didn’t, however, measure the gain or directional selectivity due to the reflector.
Intuitively, you’d think this kind of antenna would be good for direction finding purposes. In fact, hams that use handy talkies for direction finding often use their bodies to block signals, much like these reflectors should.
The [IMSAI Guy] reflector is pretty small, but you can easily make
bigger ones
. Using
PCB material for antennas
isn’t anything new, either, but we still enjoyed this simple corner reflector build. | 21 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6643563",
"author": "RobG",
"timestamp": "2023-05-17T08:15:25",
"content": "Great to see people experimenting with making antennas, rather than assuming they’re some kind of ‘magic’ and steering clear. It’d be worth learning to use a simulation tool like 4nec2 to get a feel for how ... | 1,760,372,297.027762 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/16/self-driving-library-for-python/ | Self-Driving Library For Python | Bryan Cockfield | [
"Robots Hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"computer vision",
"machine learning",
"python",
"remote controlled",
"self-driving"
] | Fully autonomous vehicles seem to perennially be just a few years away, sort of like the automotive equivalent of fusion power. But just because robotic vehicles haven’t made much progress on our roadways doesn’t mean we can’t play with the technology at the hobbyist level. You can embark on your own experimentation right now with this
open source self-driving Python library.
Granted, this is a library built for much smaller vehicles, but it’s still quite full-featured. Known as Donkey Car, it’s mostly intended for what would otherwise be remote-controlled cars or robotics platforms. The library is built to be as minimalist as possible with modularity as a design principle, and includes the ability to self-drive with computer vision using machine-learning algorithms. It is capable of logging sensor data and interfacing with various controllers as well, either physical devices or through something like a browser.
To build a complete platform costs around $250 in parts, but most things needed for a Donkey Car compatible build are easily sourced and it won’t be too long before your own RC vehicle has more “full self-driving” capabilities than a Tesla, and
potentially less risk of having a major security vulnerability
as well. | 3 | 1 | [
{
"comment_id": "6643528",
"author": "Chris Anderson",
"timestamp": "2023-05-17T05:11:49",
"content": "It’s a lot more than a library! It’s a full stack, including a desktop training UI and mobile app",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "6643658",
... | 1,760,372,297.067239 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/16/human-dna-is-everywhere-a-boon-for-science-while-terrifying-others/ | Human DNA Is Everywhere: A Boon For Science, While Terrifying Others | Maya Posch | [
"Science"
] | [
"environmental dna",
"genetic sequencing"
] | Environmental DNA sampling is nothing new. Rather than having to spot or catch an animal, instead the DNA from the traces they leave can be sampled, giving clues about their genetic diversity, their lineage (e.g. via mitochondrial DNA) and the population’s health. What caught University of Florida (UoF) researchers by surprise while they were using environmental DNA sampling to study endangered sea turtles, was just how much human DNA they found in their samples. This led them to perform a study on the human DNA they sampled in this way, with
intriguing implications
.
Ever since genetic sequencing became possible there have been many breakthroughs that have made it more precise, cheaper and more versatile. The argument by these UoF researchers in
their paper
in
Nature Ecology & Evolution
is that although there is a lot of potential in sampling human environmental DNA (eDNA) to study populations much like is done today already with wastewater sampling, only more universally. This could have great benefits in studying human populations much how we monitor other animal species already using their eDNA and similar materials that are discarded every day as a part of normal biological function.
The researchers were able to detect various genetic issues in the human eDNA they collected, demonstrating the viability of using it as a population health monitoring tool. The less exciting fallout of their findings was just how hard it is to prevent contamination of samples with human DNA, which could possibly affect studies. Meanwhile the big DNA elephant in the room is that of individual level tracking, which is something that’s incredibly exciting to researchers who are monitoring wild animal populations. Unlike those animals, however,
homo sapiens
are unique in that they’d object to such individual-level eDNA-based monitoring.
What the full implications of such new tools will be is hard to say, but they’re just one of the inevitable results as our genetic sequencing methods improve and humans keep shedding their DNA everywhere. | 15 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6643496",
"author": "Bill Stewart",
"timestamp": "2023-05-17T02:36:19",
"content": "A trope in science fiction detective or heist stories is the character sweeping up hair from a barbershop and dumping it in the event scene, so the cops have way too many different DNA samples to ide... | 1,760,372,297.187592 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/16/midi-interface-for-nextcube-plugs-into-the-past/ | MIDI Interface For NeXTcube Plugs Into The Past | Donald Papp | [
"Musical Hacks",
"Retrocomputing"
] | [
"midi",
"NeXT",
"nextcube",
"Teensy",
"usb",
"vintage"
] | [Joren] recently did some work as part of an electronic music heritage project, and restored an 80s-era NeXTcube workstation complete with vintage sound card, setting it up with a copy of MAX, a graphical music programming environment. But there was one piece missing: MIDI. [Joren] didn’t let that stop him, and
successfully created hardware to allow MIDI input and output
.
The new panel provides all the connectors necessary to interface with either classic MIDI devices, or MIDI over USB (where it appears as a USB MIDI device to any modern OS.)
Interestingly, the soundcard for the
NeXTcube
has an RS-422 serial port and some 8-pin mini DIN connectors. They are
not
compatible with standard MIDI signals, but they’re not far off, either.
To solve this, [Joren] used a
Teensy developer board
to act as an interface between classic MIDI devices like keyboards or synthesizers (or even not-so-common ones
like this strange instrument
) while also being able to accommodate modern MIDI over USB connections thanks to the
Teensy’s USB MIDI functionality
.
A metal enclosure with a 3D-printed panel rounds out the device, restoring a critical piece of functionality to the electronic music-oriented workstation.
MIDI as a protocol isn’t technically limited to musical applications, though that’s one place it shines. And just in case it comes in handy someday,
you can send MIDI over I2C if you really need to
. | 21 | 6 | [
{
"comment_id": "6643450",
"author": "Jon H",
"timestamp": "2023-05-16T23:50:00",
"content": "The Cube didn’t really have a sound card as such. It had a “high speed” serial port connected to the DSP, along with the RS-423 DIN modem ports.Other audio hardware was located in the monitor (or in the sou... | 1,760,372,297.393717 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/16/a-bicycle-powered-by-a-different-kind-of-eddy/ | A Bicycle Powered By A Different Kind Of Eddy | Ryan Flowers | [
"Transportation Hacks"
] | [
"bicycle",
"eddy currents",
"magnet"
] | When you think of a bicycle and an Eddy, you’d be forgiven for thinking first of Eddy Merckx, one of the most successful competitive cyclists to ever live. But this bicycle,
modified by [Tom Stanton] as shown in the video below the break
, has been modified by ditching its direct drive gearing in favor of using the friction-like eddy currents between magnets and copper to transfer power to the wheel.
Before even beginning to construct a mechanism for powering the bicycle, [Tom] had to figure out the basics: what kind of materials could be used for a metal disk? The answer, after much testing, turned out to be copper. What kind of magnets work best, and in what formation? Expensive high grade, aligned North to South pole for added eddy-dragging goodness. Would the mechanism work with any efficiency?
The end result is interesting to watch, and it’s not exactly as you’d have expected. Yes, eddy currents drive the copper hub, but at a 100 RPM difference. Where does all of that energy go? Hint: not to the wheel, and certainly not into propelling the bicycle. All in all it’s a fantastic experiment with unpredictable results.
If bicycle based bumbling about bakes your biscuits, you might appreciate this
tennis-ball-enhanced ride
too. | 31 | 10 | [
{
"comment_id": "6643422",
"author": "smellsofbikes",
"timestamp": "2023-05-16T22:13:40",
"content": "There is a small engineering niche for magnet drives: they can transmit motion across sealed systems, they have built in torque limiting, and great wear characteristics. Driving a bike with one is ... | 1,760,372,297.133781 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/16/hackaday-prize-2023-learn-dsp-with-the-portable-all-in-one-workstation/ | Hackaday Prize 2023: Learn DSP With The Portable All-in-One Workstation | Joseph Long | [
"Microcontrollers",
"The Hackaday Prize"
] | [
"2023 Hackaday Prize",
"digital signal processing",
"stm32"
] | Learning Digital Signal Processing (DSP) techniques traditionally involves working through a good bit of mathematics and signal theory. To promote a hands-on approach, [Clyne] developed the
DSP PAW (Portable All-in-one Workstation)
. DSP PAW hardware and software provide a complete learning environment for any computer where DSP algorithms can be entered as C++ code through an Arduino-like IDE.
The DSP PAW demonstrating attenuation controlled by a potentiometer.
The DSP PAW hardware comprises a custom board that plugs onto an
STM32 NUCLEO Development Board
from STMicroelectronics. The board includes headers and 3.5 mm audio jacks for signal interfacing, protection circuitry for analog pins, power circuitry to enable a -3.3 V to +3.3 V signal range, a status LED, and two potentiometers for adjusting parameters in real-time. The hardware can interface with audio signals and lab equipment or it can generate and capture signals in stand-alone operation.
The STM32 microcontroller requires at least a 72 MHz clock, 96 kB of RAM, support for USB, analog to digital conversion, and digital to analog conversion. Hardware floating-point support is useful for many DSP applications.
The DSP PAW firmware leverages the
ChibiOS
open-source, embedded real-time operating system. The firmware need only be programmed one time, after which DSP algorithms can be loaded from any Linux or Windows computer over USB.
The project’s IDE provides an interface for writing, compiling, uploading, executing, analyzing, and debugging DSP algorithms. The IDE can configure sampling rates, change buffer sizes, measure execution time, view disassembled code, capture signals, and generate signals. Examples are included for signal processing operation such as convolution, FIR filters, and IIR filters.
DSP is quite a rich subject for self-study. You may wish to also explore our
DSP Spreadsheet Series
or a tasty
Tutorial on Signal Processing with Octave
.
The
Hackaday
Prize 2023
is Sponsored by: | 8 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6643409",
"author": "BrightBlueJim",
"timestamp": "2023-05-16T21:15:24",
"content": "This is great. It’s not perfect, but it’s great. First, it shows that DSP doesn’t need an expensive special-purpose chip, or an FPGA. The particular Nucleo board used in the project is just a Cor... | 1,760,372,297.499083 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/16/microbubbles-and-ultrasound-getting-drugs-through-the-blood-brain-barrier/ | Microbubbles And Ultrasound: Getting Drugs Through The Blood-Brain Barrier | Lewin Day | [
"Hackaday Columns",
"Medical Hacks",
"Science",
"Slider"
] | [
"blood brain barrier",
"brain",
"glioblastoma",
"medicine",
"the brain"
] | The brain is a rather important organ, and as such, nature has gone to great lengths to protect it. The skull provides physical protection against knocks and bumps, but there’s a lesser-known defense mechanism at work too: the blood-brain barrier. It’s responsible for keeping all the nasty stuff – like bacteria, viruses, and weird chemicals – from messing up your head.
The blood-brain barrier effectively acts as a filter between the body’s circulatory system and the brain. However, it also frustrates efforts to deliver drugs directly to the brain for treating conditions like brain tumors. Now, scientists have developed a new technique
that may allow critical life saving drugs to get through the barrier with the help of ultrasound technology.
A Protective Barrier
The blood-brain barrier is a complex network of blood vessels and cells, effectively acting as a filter between the body’s circulatory system and the brain. It’s incredibly effective at its job, allowing only specific substances to pass through and reach the brain while keeping out potential toxins or pathogens. This barrier is vital for maintaining the brain’s stable environment, crucial for its normal functioning.
First discovered in the late 19th century, the barrier was revealed when German physician Paul Ehrlich noted that dye injected into a mouse’s bloodstream did not reach the mouse’s brain or spinal cord. It would take a further century or so for technology to advance enough to reveal more about the barrier’s physical characteristics.
The key to the barrier is a structure created by endothelial cells. These cells can be found lining all blood vessels, but in the blood-brain barrier, they are altogether wedged together much closer in what are called “tight junctions”. They essentially create a sort of sieve that is only fine enough to allow small molecules, fat-soluble molecules, or certain gases to pass through. Other larger molecules, like glucose, can only gain entry through special transporter proteins that carry them through the barrier.
A New Approach to an Old Problem
However, this highly specialized security system presents a significant obstacle when it comes to treating brain diseases, particularly cancers such as glioblastoma. Glioblastoma is a particularly aggressive and deadly form of brain cancer, and existing treatments often prove ineffective. One of the key reasons for this is the blood brain barrier, which prevents many chemotherapeutic drugs from reaching the brain, rendering them largely useless for this type of cancer.
Application of the technique involves injecting microbubbles which can then be combined with ultrasonic waves to help disrupt the blood-brain barrier. Much research has been undertaken on other mammals prior to human trials.
Credit: Lapin, Gill, Shah, & Chopra, 2011
In this realm, a team of researchers
from Northwestern University
has made a breakthrough. They’ve leveraged the power of ultrasound, to make the blood-brain barrier temporarily permeable. This allows crucial drugs to reach the brain to treat glioblastoma without permanently compromising the barrier and thus the patients health.
The technique involves fitting the patient with a skull-implantable ultrasound device. The ultrasound device generates sound waves that interact with injected gas microbubbles which allow the blood-brain barrier to be temporarily opened.. The procedure takes approximately four minutes, and is performed with the patients awake and conscious. Opening the barrier in this manner allows powerful chemotherapy drugs like paclitaxel and carboplatin to pass through into the brain.
Using microbubbles to permeate the barrier has been the subject of research for over a decade, and is only just reaching clinical application through trials like the one conducted by Northwestern University. The technique is referred to as microbubble-assisted focused ultrasound blood-brain barrier disruption, or
MB+FUS BBBD.
It’s believed that fluid effects resulting from the cavitation of ultrasound-induced microbubbles are what helps permeate the barrier. However, the specific mechanism of action is difficult to tease out due to the difficulty, or impossibility, of directly observing microbubble activity in the brain’s vasculature.
An implantable array of nine ultrasound emitters was used to open up a wide volume of the blood-brain barrier to allow chemotherapy drugs to pass.
Credit: Northwestern University
In a first-of-its-kind human clinical trial, this technique has been used to deliver chemotherapy to large, critical regions of the brain affected by glioblastoma. The ultrasound device was able to repeatedly open the BBB, demonstrating the potential for ongoing treatment strategies. Success of the procedure was measured by using fluorescent dyes to measure permeation through the blood-brain barrier, as well as MRI scans performed after the ultrasound activation. Researchers found that the barrier was mostly closed around 1 hour after treatment. Previous studies suggested full restoration of the barrier after 24 hours; this latest work suggests the time scale may be much shorter.
Importantly, the research also noted the benefits of the ultrasound implant used in the study. Early research used a single ultrasound emitter, while this latest study used an array of nine emitters in an implantable grid. This enabled a far wider swathe of the blood-brain barrier to be opened up, allowing drugs to more effectively reach the broader volume of the brain.
More To Come
This innovative use of ultrasound represents a potential game-changer in the treatment of glioblastoma. By bypassing the blood-brain barrier, previously ineffective yet potent chemotherapy drugs can now reach the brain tumor, providing new hope for patients.
This novel technique’s potential reaches beyond the realm of glioblastoma treatment. The ability to permeate the blood-brain barrier and deliver therapeutics directly to the brain could open new avenues for treating a wide array of neurological disorders. Diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other neurodegenerative conditions, where the blood-brain barrier has historically impeded drug delivery, could potentially benefit from this technology.
While further research is undoubtedly necessary, this breakthrough signifies a critical step forward in neurology and oncology. It provides a promising glimpse into the future of brain disease treatment, where overcoming the blood-brain barrier might become a standard procedure. As the field of medical technology continues to evolve, developments like these represent monumental strides towards transforming patient care and improving health outcomes worldwide. | 19 | 8 | [
{
"comment_id": "6643340",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2023-05-16T18:15:33",
"content": "Ahhh “drug delivery” and “cancer research,” source of infinite grants and zero usable products. Thanks for getting so many PhDs their daily bread",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
... | 1,760,372,297.568773 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/16/two-stage-refrigerator-is-chill/ | Two Stage Refrigerator Is Chill | Al Williams | [
"Science"
] | [
"ethylene",
"refrigeration"
] | Every time we check in with [Hyperspace Pirate] he’s trying to make things cold. Really cold. His recent two-part video shows a propane
vapor compression system
that can go down to -37° C as well as a two-stage system using homemade ethylene that can get to -83° C. He’s trying to get to -100°, so he’s close, and we have no doubt he’ll get there.
The video explains that using two different refrigerants makes the design more practical. At the low temperatures involved, you have to deal with compressor oil freezing. There is a lot of theory required to design an efficient cooler and a lot of know-how required to make gas-tight connections with all the different materials involved.
Using propane in both stages did provide a little additional cooling. But using ethylene in the second stage didn’t work as expected. There were two issues to work through. Part of it was the average temperature of the system, and also, the homemade ethylene needed purification. The ethylene purification setup was almost as complex as the main system and also reminded us, for some reason, of the movie
Darkstar
. It didn’t work as well as he wanted, which means we have to wait for part two to see it all actually working.
We’ve seen this same guy make
dry ice
. He’s also tried to make
liquid nitrogen
, too. | 13 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6643277",
"author": "transistor-man",
"timestamp": "2023-05-16T16:11:12",
"content": "This whole series is amazing, really worth watching thru how this evolved from attempts at a pulse tube cryocooler",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_i... | 1,760,372,297.447166 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/16/making-the-case-for-all-female-exploration-missions-to-mars-and-beyond/ | Making The Case For All-Female Exploration Missions To Mars And Beyond | Maya Posch | [
"Featured",
"Interest",
"Science",
"Slider",
"Space"
] | [
"mars mission",
"women in space"
] | A
recent study
in
Nature Scientific Reports
by Jonathan P. R. Scott and colleagues makes the case for sending exclusively all-female crews on long-duration missions. The reasoning here is simple: women have significant less body mass, with in the US the 50th percentile for women being 59.2 kg and 81.8 kg for men. This directly translates into a low total energy expenditure (TEE), along with a lower need for everything from food to water to oxygen. On a long-duration mission, this could conceivably save a lot of resources, thus increasing the likelihood of success.
With this in mind, it does raise the question of why female astronauts aren’t more commonly seen throughout Western space history, with
Sally Ride
being the first US astronaut to fly in 1983. This happened decades after the first female Soviet cosmonaut, when
Valentina Tereshkova
made history in 1963 on Vostok 6, followed by
Svetlana Savitskaya
in 1982 and again in 1984, when she became the first woman to perform a spacewalk.
With women becoming an increasingly more
common sight
in space, it does bear looking at what blocked Western women for so long, despite efforts to change this. It all starts with the unofficial parallel female astronaut selection program of the 1950s.
Fighting Tradition
When the Space Age began in the 1950s, Western society was still struggling with emancipation, especially with the Cold War as a clash of cultures reinforcing many stereotypes regarding the
role of the woman
in society. Even as Soviet women were free to take up jobs even after getting married and manage their own affairs, the ‘
nuclear family
‘, with the woman as the caretaker of the plentiful offspring was seen as the ultimate counterpoint to this, and a rejection of ‘communist’ ideals.
One result of this was the corresponding drop in women following higher education, with the share of women college students falling from about 47% in 1920 to 38% by 1958 in the US. Although more financial aid was available via the government for education, societal pressures fed into most households being single-income, with the husband making money and the wife taking care of the family and household matters. This pattern didn’t begin to change until the 1970s.
In light of all this, there wasn’t so much a single reason why US women did not generally make it into high-up places – including the skies and space – but rather the fallout from a complex patchwork of societal expectations, poor scientific practices and an astounding amount of cognitive biases that led to this widespread discrimination. This was a practice that was reflected in the US military, with the Women’s Army Corps (
WAC
, established as the WAAC in 1942) as well as the 1948 established Women in the Air Force (
WAF
) heavily limiting the duties that could be performed by the women in either.
Ultimately, when it came to selecting the first US astronauts, these would be selected from ideally the most fit candidates, preferably from the Air Force and similar extreme fitness backgrounds. That only male candidates were considered was in light of all this therefore both a logical result and par for the course. This did not mean that it was an absolute, however, with
William Randolph Lovelace II
‘s efforts while working as head of NASA’s Life Sciences being instrumental in unofficially qualifying female astronaut candidates alongside the male candidates for Project Mercury.
Mercury 13
Jerrie Cobb poses next to a Mercury spaceship capsule. (Credit: NASA)
The name for the group of thirteen women who went through this selection process, ‘the
Mercury 13
‘, was coined in 1995 by Hollywood producer James Cross as a comparison with the Mercury 7. Even so, it essentially captures the parallel nature of this program within Project Mercury. Even as the male astronaut candidates went through the rigorous testing program, so did the female candidates under guidance of Dr. Lovelace and his team, starting with
Jerrie Cobb
, a highly accomplished aviator.
Although Jerrie Cobb and twelve others with similar qualifications as her passed the tests with flying colors, NASA’s requirement for the Project Mercury astronauts was that the candidates were all military test pilots, experienced with high-speed flight and with an engineering background. This precluded all of the potential female candidates and despite lobbying attempts by Lovelace, Cobb and others, ultimately only male astronauts would fly.
After Valentina Tereshkova’s solo space flight in 1962, she would
ridicule
the US and its purported freedoms, where a woman was denied the opportunity to compete equally with men. It would still take twenty-one years after that comment before the first female US astronaut would make it to space. Ultimately none of the ‘Mercury 13’ would fly to space, although
Wally Funk
would fly on a suborbital flight with Blue Origin’s New Shepard vehicle at the age of 82, making her the only one of the thirteen women to make it nearly to space.
It’s The Biology, Silly
Although the logic of the modeling performed by Jonathan P. R. Scott and colleagues in their paper on the benefits of a female crew makes objectively sense, it’s important to consider the main concerns that were raised despite these female candidates passing the same tests as their male counterparts, as summarized in a 1964 paper by J. R. Betson & R. R. Secrest titled
Prospective women astronauts selection program
in the
American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology
(doi:10.1016/0002-9378(64)90446-6).
Essentially the concern raised was about the suitability of a woman in the operating of complex machinery while she would be on her period, and the effect this might have on her mental faculties, as well as the complications of having to deal with the menstrual flow. Males would be more optimal in this regard, with a stable endocrine system and no complications to consider.
As we have found since the 1960s, women can most definitely function in space, and there are a number of ways to
deal with a period
while in space, including
not having periods
at all. The latter is accomplished with contraceptives that suppress ovulation, where instead of having an ‘off week’ each month the contraceptive is constantly supplied, possibly as a subdermal system for flights to Mars. Although on the ISS dealing with waste and having sanitary products shuttled up from Earth’s surface is doable, for long-term missions it’s obvious that it is an aspect that has to be considered as well.
As for the emotional stability and similar aspects, none of these were found to be valid concerns over the decades that female astronauts, cosmonauts and taikonauts have spent time in space. There is after all no fundamental difference between men and women beyond their biological sex and the associated endocrine system. As demonstrated by e.g. Daphne Joel et al. in a
2015 study
involving fMRI scans of male and female volunteers, despite the physical (size) differences between male and female brains, they are not sexually dimorphic. Rather than personality being determined by the biological sex, it is a purely unique, individualistic pattern.
What this means is that the typical selection procedures for astronauts involving not only physical challenges but also psychological tests apply equally, regardless of the candidate’s biological sex.
Transgenerational Shenanigans
Considering the scientific evidence, it is in a sense rather tragic that a headline like ‘all-female Mars mission crew’ should even make the headlines. Many decades after the ‘Mercury 13’ tried to make their case, and after a few decades now of both male and female astronauts working side by side, it should be clear that the goal for any mission is to pick the right crew for the job. If that means picking the astronauts who have the lowest body mass and resulting lowest energy, water and oxygen requirements, and they also happen to be overwhelmingly female, then that is good mission design.
Especially when it comes to a highly dangerous mission, such as a long-duration mission to Mars, the primary concern ought to be what would give the crew the highest chances of success. If hundreds of kilograms of supplies could be cut, or be kept back as emergency supplies because the crew is composed solely of individuals slim in stature, then that makes sense in any logical way. Even if the trauma of generations of anti-intellectual and pseudo-scientific nonsense regarding certain groups in society insist that we should discuss it in great length once again.
While it is great to see that things have definitely changed since the 1960s, the struggles of the Mercury 13 women and the countless others like them over the decades should not be forgotten.
(Heading image:
Astronaut Tracy Caldwell in the International Space Station
. (Credit: NASA) ) | 118 | 37 | [
{
"comment_id": "6643248",
"author": "Paul d'Aoust",
"timestamp": "2023-05-16T15:27:40",
"content": "Super interesting and enlightening article, thanks. Gave me things to think about that I’d never considered before. And I love the juicy inversion of the old 20th century conclusion that men are more... | 1,760,372,297.802021 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/16/diy-programmable-guitar-pedal-rocks-the-studio-stage/ | DIY Programmable Guitar Pedal Rocks The Studio & Stage | Donald Papp | [
"Microcontrollers",
"Musical Hacks"
] | [
"Adafruit Feather",
"digital audio",
"guitar pedal",
"I2S",
"pcb",
"Teensy"
] | Ever wondered how to approach making your own digital guitar effects pedal? [Steven Hazel] and a friend have done exactly that, using an Adafruit Feather M4 Express board and a Teensy Audio Adapter board together to create
a DIY programmable digital unit
that looks ready to drop into an enclosure and get put right to work in the studio or on the stage.
The bulk of the work is done with two parts, and can be prototyped easily on a breadboard.
[Steven] also made a custom PCB to mount everything, including all the right connectors, but the device can be up and running with not much more than the two main parts and a breadboard.
On the inside, the Adafruit Feather M4 Express board works with the audio board over I2S, a standard for sending serial digital audio between chips. Working with the audio itself is done with the
Teensy Audio Library
, providing a fantastic array of easy-to-use functions for processing and manipulating digital audio streams.
Together, all the right pieces are in place and [Steven] provides
the code for a simple tremolo effect
as a glimpse of what’s possible with the unit. Interested in going a bit further? [Steven] shares additional details about what’s involved in
writing a custom effect from scratch
using the Teensy Audio Library.
As mentioned, I2S is where it’s at when it comes to working with digital audio at the chip level, and
our own Jenny List can tell you everything you need to know about I2S
, a useful protocol that has actually been around since 1982! | 10 | 7 | [
{
"comment_id": "6643212",
"author": "Marvin",
"timestamp": "2023-05-16T12:42:43",
"content": "maybe this would be interesting for such a thing:http://www.spinsemi.com/products.html",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "6643235",
"author": "Jii",
... | 1,760,372,297.626428 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/15/turning-old-kindles-into-ai-powered-picture-frames/ | Turning Old Kindles Into AI Powered Picture Frames | Tom Nardi | [
"Kindle hacks",
"Software Hacks"
] | [
"jailbreak",
"kindle",
"python",
"stable diffusion"
] | While we tend to think of Amazon’s e-paper Kindles as more or less single-purpose devices (which to be fair, is how they’re advertised), there’s actually a full-featured Linux computer running behind that simple interface, just waiting to be put to work. Given how cheap you can get old Kindles on the second hand market, this has always struck us as something of a wasted opportunity.
This is why we love to see projects like
Kindlefusion from [Diggedypomme]
. It turns the Kindle into a picture frame to show off the latest in machine learning art thanks to Stable Diffusion. Just connect your browser to the web-based control interface running on the Kindle, give it a prompt, and away it goes. There are also functions to recall previously generated images, and if you’re connecting from a mobile device, support for creating images from voice prompts.
You can find cheap older Kindles on eBay.
All you need is a Kindle that can be jailbroken, though technically the software has only been tested against older third and fourth-generation hardware. From there you install a few required packages as listed in the project documentation, including Python 3. Then you just move the Kindlefusion package over either via USB or SSH, and do a little final housekeeping before starting it up and letting it take over the Kindle’s normal UI.
Given the somewhat niche nature of Kindle hacking, we’re particularly glad to see that [Diggedypomme] went through the trouble of explaining the nuances of getting the e-reader ready to run your own code. While it’s not difficult to do, there are plenty of pitfalls if you’ve never done it before, so a concise guide is a nice thing to have. Unfortunately, it seems like Amazon has recently gone on the offensive, with firmware updates blocking the exploits the community was using for jailbreaking on all but the older models that are no longer officially supported.
While it’s a shame you can’t just pick up a new Kindle and start hacking (at least, for now), there are still millions of older devices floating around that could be put to good use. Hopefully, projects like this can help inspire others to pick one up and start
experimenting with what’s possible
. | 4 | 2 | [
{
"comment_id": "6643012",
"author": "Gino Latino",
"timestamp": "2023-05-15T20:26:19",
"content": "At 6:20 minute mark, he uttered the phrase “a cat with a wizard hat” and it materialized 24 seconds later. This leads me to envision a room with roughly a dozen frames, each one capturing what had bee... | 1,760,372,297.850826 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/15/the-soviet-space-station-program-from-military-satellites-to-the-iss/ | The Soviet Space Station Program: From Military Satellites To The ISS | Maya Posch | [
"Featured",
"History",
"Slider",
"Space"
] | [
"international space station",
"Mir",
"salyut",
"Soyuz",
"space station"
] | When the Space Race kicked off in earnest in the 1950s, in some ways it was hard to pin down where sci-fi began and reality ended. As the first artificial satellites began zipping around the Earth, this was soon followed by manned spaceflight, first in low Earth orbit, then to the Moon with manned spaceflights to Mars and Venus already in the planning. The first space stations were being launched following or alongside Kubrick’s
2001: A Space Odyssey,
and countless other books and movies during the 1960s and 1970s such as
Moonraker
which portrayed people living (and fighting) out in space.
Perhaps ironically, considering the portrayal of space stations in Western media, virtually all of the space stations launched during the 20th century were Soviet, leaving Skylab as the sole US space station to this day. The Soviet Union established a near-permanent presence of cosmonauts in Earth orbit since the 1970s as part of the
Salyut
program. These Salyut space stations also served as cover for the military Almaz space stations that were intended to be used for reconnaissance as well as weapon platforms.
Although the US unquestionably won out on racing the USSR to the Moon, the latter nation’s achievements granted us invaluable knowledge on how to make space stations work, which benefits us all to this very day.
Sense And Nonsense Of Space
Colony in an O’Neill cylinder, with a clear view of nearby planets.
Why even put a habitat in orbit, whether it’s in low-Earth orbit (LEO), around the Moon or the massive space colonies in
O’Neill cylinders
, as popularized in sci-fi? Although less flashy than a daring trip to the Moon to perform experiments on its surface, there is a lot of practical use for having a constantly habitable space in microgravity. This is demonstrated by the International Space Station (ISS), which performs a range of experiments every single day, both inside and outside the station.
By removing gravity as a factor, its effect on everything from the way fluids behave during an experiment to how lifeforms grow can be examined and quantified. Space stations also form an excellent location to gather information on how to keep human beings alive with and without artificial gravity before we venture further into space and onto other planets. Another essential feature is the convenience of having a spot to dock to outside of Earth’s gravity well. This latter point is becoming ever more pertinent now that the goal is to have refueling stations in orbit around Earth as part of NASA’s new Moon landing program.
What the ISS also demonstrates – tragically – is that expensive space exploration programs tend to be heavily linked into politics, and by extension military objectives. With the scientific progress of the Cold War era being overshadowed by the looming threat of planetary-scale annihilation, the 1967
Outer Space Treaty
sought to prohibit space-based weapons of mass destruction, as well as regulate access to space as being essentially a public good.
It was against this background that the Soviet Union began its
Salyut program
in 1971. This program sought to develop ostensibly only space stations that were intended solely for civilian and scientific use, but ended up being a dual-use project.
Manned Satellite Or Space Station
Salyut 5 (OPS-3) return capsule, on display at the National Air And Space Museum in Washington. (Credit: Nova13 at Wikipedia)
Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the military Salyut stations was that they showed of how little use such military stations are. Although the
Almaz
(Russian: ‘Алмаз’, or ‘Diamond’) Orbital Piloted Station (OPS) space stations were intended to be surveillance platforms, their performance was abysmal. Three stations (Salyut 2, 3 and 5) were put into orbit, of which
Salyut 2
(OPS-1) got shredded by debris from the Proton rocket’s third stage when it exploded.
Salyut 3
(OPS-2) was marginally more successful, with its onboard cameras performing their surveillance duties and the
Rikhter R-23
autocannon being to this day the only cannon to have been fired in space. Only one of the three crews that tried to dock with the station managed to do so successfully. The idea behind this station was that the crew could develop the film from the cameras, scanning in important images for transmission to Earth, while other images would be dropped back to Earth in a return capsule. And as we mentioned, the autocannon was fired at least once, but only while the station was uncrewed.
The last OPS Salyut station was
Salyut 5
(OPS-3), launched in 1976. It was visited by two Soyuz crews before the station ran out of propellant and was deorbited shortly after the failed third docking attempt. This station was more or less dual-use. Although its primary purpose was of a military nature, the crew also performed scientific experiments. Its successor in the form of OPS-4 would never be launched, however, as the crewed Almaz program was cancelled in favor of the uncrewed Almaz-T surveillance satellites and their successors.
Although perhaps in the 1970s having an orbiting film development lab would have made sense, it soon became clear that uncrewed satellites would offer significantly more bang for the buck. This essentially left only the civilian Salyut (ODS) program to continue, with the Salyut 6 and 7 stations.
Ultimate Sacrifice
USSR stamp commemorating the Soyuz 11 cosmonauts Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev.
Despite how routine it may seem to have crewed spacecraft launch into space, dock with a space station and descend, the
first Salyut
station (DOS-1, for Durable Orbital Station) made it abundantly clear just how brutal and unforgiving each part of this process can be. Launched in 1971 on April the 19th, the mission initially appeared to be trouble-free, with the orbiting station being assigned the designation
Salyut 1
, to indicate mission success.
However, during the initial docking attempt by the Soyuz 10 crew, their attempts to hard dock with the station failed and they were ultimately forced to abandon their attempt. The crew managed to return safely to Earth, leaving it to the
Soyuz 11
mission to attempt the docking again. This was attempted on June 7th, 1971, and hard docking was successful, allowing them to be the first ever crew in a manned space station.
Salyut 1 would be their home for 22 days, during which they performed experiments and dealt with a small fire on day 11. At the end of their mission, they loaded scientific specimens, along with film and other gear into the Soyuz 11 craft and prepared to return to Earth. Although everything seemed to go fine during descent, the ground-based crew assigned to recovery of the Soyuz capsule got no response from the crew. Upon opening the capsule, they found that all three men had died.
Ultimately it was determined that during the separation of the descent and service module prior to reentry, a pressure equalization valve had been jolted loose by the explosive bolts, which had allowed the landing module to depressurize. Although there were signs that the crew had attempted to close the valve, it was not in a location where it was easily accessible, and they met a gruesome demise through asphyxiation as their craft hurtled back towards the safety of Earth.
The Next Generation
With each success and failure within the first generation of Salyut stations, both OPS and DOS, harsh lessons were learned. The Soviet engineers had opted for an automated docking system from the beginning, but failed docking attempts kept occurring, which forced them to refine the docking procedures and systems. Failed station launches led to revisions and improvements. The tragic accident with Soyuz 11 resulted in the original three-man crew configuration in Soyuz capsules being reduced to two, so that both could wear a
Sokol
space suit which would keep them safe in case of sudden decompression or other hazardous events.
A model of a Salyut-7 space station, with a Soyuz space craft docked at each end. The display is in front of one of the pavilions of the Exhibition of Soviet National Economic Achievement located across from the Kosmos Hotel on the north side of the city. Photo from 1985.
While the first civilian Salyut DOS stations (DOS-1 and DOS-4, or Salyut 1 and 4) were essentially like the Almaz stations, the second generation were significantly larger and more advanced. Rather than a single docking port, they featured two of these, allowing for resupply missions that allowed crews to stay onboard for months. The first second-generation station,
Salyut 6
would remain in orbit for five years, with no noticeable incidents.
Less fortunate was
Salyut 7
(DOS-6), which suffered major electrical and communication issues while it was uncrewed in orbit. This led to the heroic rescue mission by the
Soyuz T-13
crew, who managed to not only perform a manual docking with the unresponsive station, but also repair it to the point where it remained in use for years.
Intended as the transition test bed from the existing monolithic space stations, Salyut 7 pioneered modular station concepts that would be used in its successor, DOS-7, as well as adding a focus on creature comforts since crews would be living in space for months on end. Rather than being branded Salyut 8, DOS-7 would form the core of a new, modular station called
Mir
and be the first of its kind while still carrying the Salyut legacy. Launched in 1986, Mir survived the collapse of the Soviet Union, and heralded the beginning of international cooperation in space.
Skylab, which reused a lot of hardware from the Apollo Moon program, was the US’s only solo space station in the 1970s, but the US Space Shuttle would end up docking with Mir repeatedly over the course of years as part of the
Shuttle-Mir
program. As part of a discussion between the US and Russia during the 1990s, it was decided that the follow-up program to Mir would not be Mir-2, but instead the International Space Station.
The Russian elements of the ISS are firmly based in the Salyut legacy, with
Zvezda
(DOS-8) forming a core module of the space station. The Russian modules were launched and docked in an automated fashion, while the other modules were delivered by the Space Shuttle and assembled essentially by hand, ultimately resulting in the ISS we know today. It is this station which provides us with a glimpse not only of the long history of the Salyut program and its many sacrifices, but also of the future of humanity in space.
When the ISS will be deorbited at some point in 2031, the major question remains what will take its place, as humankind continues to try and figure out what space means to it. Both crew members on the ISS as well as those who ventured away from Earth during the Apollo missions have remarked on the impact of seeing Earth from further away, and to gaze into the depths of the Universe far beyond the reaches of Earth’s atmosphere.
Maybe the most essential aspect of these space missions is that it teaches us that to truly understand the Earth and ourselves, we first have to get away from both for a while.
(Header image:
the Space Shuttle Atlantis connected to Russia’s Mir Space Station
, as photographed by the Mir-19 crew on July 4, 1995. Credit: NASA) | 7 | 5 | [
{
"comment_id": "6642937",
"author": "rastersoft",
"timestamp": "2023-05-15T16:46:55",
"content": "Just a little detail: in the last picture, the one with the Salyut-7 model, the nearest ship isn’t a Soyuz, but a Progress cargo ship.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
... | 1,760,372,297.905996 | ||
https://hackaday.com/2023/05/15/mark-your-calendars-nasa-is-holding-a-public-meeting-on-ufos/ | Mark Your Calendars, NASA Is Holding A Public Meeting On UFOs | Tom Nardi | [
"News",
"Space"
] | [
"military",
"nasa",
"UAP",
"UFO"
] | We’re sorry, the politically correct term these days is “unidentified anomalous phenomena” (UAP), as it’s less likely to excite those with a predilection for tinfoil hats. But whether you call them flying objects or anomalous phenomena, it’s that
unidentified
part that has us interested.
Which is why we’ll be tuned into NASA TV at 10:30 a.m. EDT on May 31 —
that’s when the agency has announced they’ll be broadcasting a meeting
of an independent study team tasked with categorizing and evaluating UAP data. The public can even
submit their own questions
, the most popular of which will be passed on to the team.
Before you get too excited, the meeting is about how NASA can “evaluate and study UAP by using data, technology, and the tools of science”, and the press release explains that they won’t be reviewing or assessing any unidentifiable observations. So if you’re hoping for the US government’s tacit acknowledgment that we’re not alone in the universe, you’ll probably be disappointed. That said, they wouldn’t have to assemble a team to study these reports if they were all so easily dismissed. As always, interstellar visitors are dead last on the list of possible explanations, but some cases have too much hard evidence to be dismissed out of hand. They might not be little green men, but they are
something
.
Declassified videos show
US military aircraft encountering UAPs
Those with an interest in such things are likely already aware of the
2022 Annual Report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena
released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). The report explains that under the direction of the Secretary of Defense, an All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) had been established in July of 2022 to catalog and analyze credible UAP cases. The paper further reveals that of the 366 cases the AARO was actively investigating, only 195 could be deemed “unremarkable” and likely the result of a drone, balloon, or wildlife.
Does that mean the remaining 171 were the product of interdimensional incursions? Of course not. But the report does acknowledge that “some of these uncharacterized UAP appear to have demonstrated unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities” which makes their identification difficult. The report’s recommendation was simple enough: in order to collect more data, UAP cases needed to be taken more seriously.
This NASA meeting is a step towards that goal, and we’re looking forward to seeing the team’s final recommendations
when they’re released over the summer
. The truth is out there. | 22 | 13 | [
{
"comment_id": "6642881",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2023-05-15T12:14:14",
"content": "“So if you’re hoping for the US government’s tacit acknowledgment that we’re not alone in the universe, you’ll probably be disappointed. ”Not really.https://youtu.be/k_B9YP5nEWw",
"parent_id": null,
... | 1,760,372,297.971437 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.