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https://hackaday.com/2025/10/07/building-a-diwheel-to-add-more-tank-controls-to-your-commute/
|
Building A Diwheel To Add More Tank Controls To Your Commute
|
Maya Posch
|
[
"Transportation Hacks"
] |
[
"diwheel",
"monowheel"
] |
It’s often said that one should not reinvent the wheel, but that doesn’t mean that you cannot change how the use of said wheel should be interpreted. After initially taking the rather zany concept of a monowheel for a literal ride, [Sam Barker] decided to shift gears, did a ‘what if’ and slapped a second monowheel next to the first one
to create his diwheel vehicle
. Using much thicker steel for the wheels and overall much more robust construction than for his monowheel, the welding could commence.
It should be said here that the concept of a
diwheel
, or dicycle, isn’t entirely new, but the
monowheel
– distinct from a unicycle – is much older, with known builds at least as far back as the 19th century. Confusing, self-balancing platforms like Segways are also referred to as ‘dicycles’, while a diwheel seems to refer specifically to what [Sam] built here. That said, diwheels are naturally stable even without gyroscopic action, which is definitely a big advantage.
The inner frame for [Sam]’s diwheel is built out of steel too, making it both very robust and very heavy. High-tech features include suspension for that smooth ride, and SLS 3D-printed nylon rollers between the inner frame and the wheels. After some mucking about with a DIY ‘lathe’ to work around some measurement errors, a lot more welding and some questionable assembly practices, everything came together in the end.
This is just phase one, however, as [Sam] will not be installing pedals like it’s an old-school monowheel. Instead it’ll have electrical drive, which should make it a bit less terrifying than the
Ford Ka-based diwheel
we featured in 2018, but rather close to the electric
diwheel called EDWARD
which we featured back in 2011. We hope to see part two of this build soon, in which [Sam] will hopefully take this beast for its first ride.
| 19
| 9
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8189008",
"author": "purplepeopleated",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T23:29:49",
"content": "“In “The Entity”, Mr. Garrison, tired of inefficient and frustrating airline check-ins, decides to invent his own vehicle. Inspired by watching singer Enrique Iglesias’ sexualized singing on TV and by gyroscopes, he invents the gyroscope-powered monowheel IT (supposedly a parody of the Segway, which was code-named “IT”, although this episode aired before the unveiling of the Segway Scooter).”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189012",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T23:36:08",
"content": "‘This is awful, but it’s better than the airlines.’",
"parent_id": "8189008",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189177",
"author": "Joran",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T07:31:46",
"content": "Doesn’t Di- and Bi- mean the same thing?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189248",
"author": "Dj Biohazard",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T09:33:11",
"content": "I always interpret Di- as both present, and Bi- as one or the other.Bistable for instance gives two points where a system is stable, but never at the same time :)",
"parent_id": "8189177",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189371",
"author": "craig",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T14:34:51",
"content": "Sooo… bicycle?",
"parent_id": "8189248",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189524",
"author": "Dj Biohazard",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T17:32:48",
"content": "Seeing the kids go down the street doing a wheelie most times…. :P",
"parent_id": "8189371",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189516",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T17:26:43",
"content": "The “di-” prefix is Greek. “Bi-” is Latin. They basically mean the same thing in current usage. Lots of different root languages in English.",
"parent_id": "8189177",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189814",
"author": "Lonnie Stoudt",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T02:04:13",
"content": "Yeah, English IS quite literally a “bastard” language, lol…",
"parent_id": "8189516",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192152",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T09:05:05",
"content": "Funny enough, “cycle” comes form Greek Kuklos for circle or wheel, so a bicycle should be called a dicycle if we’re trying to be consistent.. which we aren’t",
"parent_id": "8189814",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189255",
"author": "LordNothing",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T09:47:28",
"content": "had really needs to step up their weird vehicle game. this one is cool and all but…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZj0L0CtNqUthis is my new vehicle channel while project binky figures out electronics design.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189264",
"author": "sweethack",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T10:00:46",
"content": "You must be a bicephalous then.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189280",
"author": "Minot",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T10:37:35",
"content": "I love the emergency brake on that one.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189294",
"author": "Rastersoft",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T11:09:00",
"content": "Then a Bi-cycle can have two wheels, but only one at each time? :-D",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189518",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T17:28:10",
"content": "Wheelie and stoppie.",
"parent_id": "8189294",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190655",
"author": "Stephen",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T08:59:34",
"content": "Or why not Schrödinger’s bicycle it can have two wheels and not have two wheels all at the same time",
"parent_id": "8189294",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189612",
"author": "clind",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T19:13:20",
"content": "without gyroscopic stabilisation or other neat trick, I doubt the acceleration and breaking capabilities to be enough to make this vehicle practical …",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189805",
"author": "JustBecause",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T01:36:25",
"content": "Google also had a di-wheel… Or was it Segway??!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190182",
"author": "Benjamin Goldberg",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T14:26:31",
"content": "This kind of thing is only self stabilizing at very low speeds with half flat tires.When moving at any reasonable speed, you will need a PID controller to keep the rider and motor and battery at a user controllable angle to the ground, just like a Segway.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190813",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T18:20:03",
"content": "Still better than the airlines.",
"parent_id": "8190182",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
}
] | 1,760,371,403.085383
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/11/entering-the-wild-world-of-power-over-ethernet/
|
Entering The Wild World Of Power Over Ethernet
|
Maya Posch
|
[
"Network Hacks"
] |
[
"PoE",
"power over ethernet"
] |
As Ethernet became the world-wide standard for wired networking, there was one nagging problem. You already have to plug in the network cable. But then you have to also plug in a power cable. That power cable needs to be long enough. And have the right plug on it for your country. And provide the right current and voltage. That’s how Power over Ethernet (PoE) was born, first in a veritable Wild West of proprietary standards and passive injectors, then in a standardized process. Recently [T. K. Hareendran] wrote
a primer on PoE
, with more of a DIY intro focus, including some favorite PoE PD (powered device) chips to use in your own design.
You can still totally use passive PoE if that’s your jam, and you have full control over the network and any connected devices. This would allow you to, for example, power your SBCs for
a couple of bucks
, although for adding PoE
to your Mac Mini
you may want to look at some more refined options, if only as a safety precaution.
Much depends on the needs of each device, as PoE is meant mostly for low-power devices such as VoIP phones and the like. The more common IEEE 802.af and .at standards (Type 1 and 2) cap out at 30 Watts, with about 25 Watts available to the device after losses, while 802.3bt (Type 3 and 4) takes this up to 90 Watts, or just over 70 Watts after losses. Before making a decision, it would be good to read a detailed guide from someone with experience, like
the one by [Alan]
that we covered a while ago.
| 41
| 5
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8191269",
"author": "Gardoni",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T20:29:32",
"content": "Is this AI-generated image? DC current won’t go through transformers, just heat them like it’s a big old resistor.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191273",
"author": "Puff Kitty",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T20:39:22",
"content": "Take a good look at the diagram before making any criticisms. If you put as much effort into understanding as you do into complaining, you would see that the power supply passes through the center tap of the transformer’s secondary winding. What’s the problem? When you don’t know or don’t understand something, you keep quiet instead of acting like a know-it-all. You’re talking nonsense.",
"parent_id": "8191269",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191504",
"author": "Anonbob",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T09:33:29",
"content": "Well said.“I don’t understand this”“Therefore it must be wrong”Blinkers on full.",
"parent_id": "8191273",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191274",
"author": "ukezi",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T20:42:59",
"content": "No, that is how it’s done. As you see the DC is connected to the middle connection on the windings on the ethernet phy side. This means it gives a DC bias to the signal. That is no problem as those are differential pair.",
"parent_id": "8191269",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191288",
"author": "Joe",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T21:41:35",
"content": "You are mostly virrect, but there is no resulting DC bias, because the DC voltage is applied equally to both sides of the pair ,, so balance of the pair is maintained. You can even simplex another voice circuit to the physical pairs. Each “pair of pairs” csn provide an additional “phantom” circuit, resulting in a 50% pair gain, using no wire, and causing no interference to the physical circuits. Thr users don’t even know there is an additional “hitchhiker” riding on the system, because there is no bias caused by superimposing DC OR voice traffic. Credentials: former T1 Carrier phone nsn here.",
"parent_id": "8191274",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191276",
"author": "henningdkf29543cc0f",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T20:46:14",
"content": "DC will pass through the transformer windings as shown here, but not between transformer primary and secondary sides.Other than using the unused pairs inmy private100Mbit cabling, is there any super cheap way of getting just 12V and a little current through?",
"parent_id": "8191269",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191291",
"author": "bob",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T21:44:33",
"content": "rs232 DE9 serial mice didn’t have a dc pin in the plug, but they still managed to operate through use of charge pumps.",
"parent_id": "8191276",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191582",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T12:39:49",
"content": "And I always thought they were stealing power via diodes/from the data pins..",
"parent_id": "8191291",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191386",
"author": "limroh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T04:23:24",
"content": "You can try buying a PoE switch where just the PoE part is broken and insert voltage manually in selected ports (transformer’s center pins).Or you can take a part any normal switch and get lucky that the magnetics (transformers) have unused center pins (this is just a wild guess).",
"parent_id": "8191276",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191501",
"author": "Anonbob",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T09:32:03",
"content": "Why would you want to?If its only 100 then just use the spare pairs.Why on earth make it more complicated.If the device isn’t poe and your switch is, you can get break out devices on a variety of voltages and connectors.My rpis are all powered this way cos the poe hats don’t make financial sense.",
"parent_id": "8191276",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191277",
"author": "MM",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T20:46:25",
"content": "The DC current doesn’t go ‘through’ the trasnfomrer, the current goes from from the source on the left side to the middle tap of the winding an from here outwards through the winding of the the transformer, the asymmetic splitting of the DC current doesn’t produce a net magnetic field in the trasnformer (no bias). I can’t see a problem.",
"parent_id": "8191269",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191278",
"author": "Rob Rogers",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T20:46:29",
"content": "The data sure will its a squarewave. And they are the impedance matching transformers that connect the unbalanced 100ohm Ethernet wire to the unbalanced internal circuitry.They are sometimes called “Ethernet transformer”, baluns (not often used in Ethernet but correct) Ethernet Magnets. There is 4 of them in your typical black rectangle.",
"parent_id": "8191269",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191284",
"author": "Joe",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T21:28:02",
"content": "Do s little research on “simplex” or “phantom” connections, which the telephone industry has been using for over 100 years to get power to remote devices like line amplifiers, aka “repeaters”. It works and it works well. Let google be your friend.",
"parent_id": "8191269",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191320",
"author": "Hugo Oran",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T23:33:00",
"content": "Show me AI which can draw even simple battery-switch-lamp schematic. I really cannot find any.",
"parent_id": "8191269",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191595",
"author": "Tollholio",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T13:11:35",
"content": "It’s on the center tap of the xformers.There is zero issue with using an enforcer like that to transfer both dc and differential mode.This works fine, you need to take a better look at it.",
"parent_id": "8191269",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191721",
"author": "Kevin",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T16:45:19",
"content": "So many replies mention that the dc cancels out as it goes through to opposing windings. Have implemented similar designs with audio through transformers, and DC power and RS 232 comms through the centre windings. Worked in that system. Read up on how transformers work.",
"parent_id": "8191269",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191281",
"author": "Rog Fanther",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T21:02:30",
"content": "Aaand ? If you look at the image again, you can see the current is connected on the ‘OUT” side of the transformer, and is removed from it also at the OUT side.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191282",
"author": "Gardoni",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T21:18:03",
"content": "I don’t understand it but it gives “fake af” vibes.",
"parent_id": "8191281",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191292",
"author": "Joe",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T21:45:18",
"content": "Nope, it’s real, and has been used by the telephone industry for well over 100 years. It’s how the power the remote T1 Carrier repeaters in the field. Look up “simplex” or *phantom” circuits; its actually as simple as a doorbell. Let Google be your friend.",
"parent_id": "8191282",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191538",
"author": "Rusty",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T10:26:37",
"content": "As a retired phone guy, maybe 50 years ago, I came across this while planing to replace some of that interesting wiring setup to use buried cable. I think it only had 4-party lines. I also think we called that type wiring as “bug-bear” wiring.Please correct any errors I may have remembered incorrectly. Thanks(In Mechanicsburg Indiana)",
"parent_id": "8191292",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191354",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T01:42:48",
"content": "i’m not sure if you’re going by vibes or if the substance of the circuit itself weirds you out. But i’ve definitely noticed as i try to understand circuits outside of the very narrow range that is familiar to me, i often have this feeling. Definitely at first glance, this circuit looks pretty implausible too.Like the extreme example is the magnetron – it’s just a short circuit! Might be fun to catalog all of the quite basic and common circuits that nonetheless give off a “this is fake” vibe if you know just enough that it feels like it “ought to make sense” but doesn’t until you connect the dots.",
"parent_id": "8191282",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191397",
"author": "pelrun",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T05:22:42",
"content": "If you don’t understand something, you’re not exactly best placed to judge it’s validity.HaD doesn’t post garbage in general, so the default position should be that something is correct unless you knowfor certainthat it doesn’t make sense.",
"parent_id": "8191282",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191302",
"author": "Sammie Gee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T22:25:04",
"content": "Semi-related, that’s why RJ45/cat-5/cat-6 wires are colored in certain way – brown/white-brown supposed to be injected ground/negative, blue/white-blue supposed to be injected positive.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191305",
"author": "Sammie Gee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T22:30:03",
"content": "In the past I didn’t bother with the extra-steps (obtaining RJ45 jacks and soldering them to the boards, so the store-bought cables can be used) and just made my own cable that would split off the brown/white-brown and blue/white-blue wires into 12v plug and jack : – ]Worked so far, since the distance is well within specs (I’d say ~24 feet in total), as cheap as it gets.",
"parent_id": "8191302",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191332",
"author": "Sammie Gee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T00:17:51",
"content": "Even less related, but bear with me for a minute or two : -] (loose thoughts will follow – feel free to discard)I long wondered “why are there no dedicated low-power universal plug that would deliver under 100 watts variable voltage and power, AC or DC?” Most low-power wares that need a dedicated wall wart would be just right to these?My thoughts were “if there exists a simple and robust solution that would second-simplest to the barrel jack (remember the times when the size of the barrel jack signaled the voltage?), but smarter?” Furthermore, make it so it is either flat or has tony knobs so little kids can use them with the risk of being zapped?I even sketched out the design, square receptacle and square plug, basically, you hang the plug on the receptacle, and the moment it clicks, it does the instant handshake that decides what power is being delivered. Since the plug is square, it could have not just two, but four or six pins (or more), hence approaching the venerable RS232 (keep in mind this was late 1990s) and, potentially, VGA, too. The logistics were quite simple, really, the plug would have a built-in “signature” passive analog circuit that the receptacle would “read” and set itself accordingly. Nothing major, really, an op amp or two would read the thing and power up PWM delivering such and such voltage limited to such and such amperage. Oh, I never got around to properly designing the thing, but the idea was stuck in my mind ever since.",
"parent_id": "8191302",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191467",
"author": "FeRDNYC",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T08:26:15",
"content": "Wait, you lost me at RS232/VGA. You want to run power in parallel with data? Even low-voltage power can’t carry any meaningful wattage without inducing horrible EMI in the data lines, unless you engineer in special precautions. PoE (and USB-C) escape it by making clever use of twisted-pair data lines. Powerline Ethernet goes the opposite route, by encoding the data signal INTO the power lines.But older analog data cables like VGA and RS232 had no such protections. In the general case, the wisdom is that power and data need to be carried over completely separate cables, and only cross (if they must cross) at 90° angles.",
"parent_id": "8191332",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191508",
"author": "Bob",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T09:40:46",
"content": "Used to get 9pin dsub hoods with an rj45 built in for building custom serial cables.Putting in a 15pin for vga then having the ability to run via over structured wiring was better than spunking a lot for the special longer length cables and trying to snake the ends through the walls.Back in the day….",
"parent_id": "8191467",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191651",
"author": "Sammie Gee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T14:19:51",
"content": "RE: Bob, yep, I moonshined as a cable tech for some year or two (1993 or 1994, I think). We did just that, semi-independent custom cable makers. We did them all, coax, IBM, depending on what clients wanted. RJ45 was what paid the best, since everyone was suddenly going “everything HAS to be ethernet”, and, coincidence has it, telephones powered over ethernet were in high demand as well.",
"parent_id": "8191508",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191624",
"author": "Sammie Gee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T13:43:07",
"content": "RE: FeRDNYC, yep, sounds like it was the powerline ethernet that I was thinking of/about. Coincidentally, the post was about powerline ethernet.My 1990s thought was “juicy wires for the power, thin wires for the data”, and yes, EMI will be the problem, twisted wires can only cancel out that much.It was a half-baked idea, of course, but the thinking was “majority of the appliances – other than ovens or irons – won’t need much power to start with”. I haven’t thought pass that, but perhaps two or three different similarly-looking receptacles would be needed, similarly how we have grounded and not grounded power plugs (and then there is a dedicated three-prong jack for electric ovens that run off of 380 AC).Scaling down the runaway thoughts, probably an upgraded/revised USB-A is good enough for what I was thinking. Seeing how some RaspPis have two separate USBs (RaspberryPi Zero 2W to be exact – one USB is a dedicated power), probably that’s the simplest solution, two USB-As, except a semi-flat plug using spring pins.My idea was “flat plug that will be wide enough so little kids connecting one to the receptacle won’t be able to touch the power contacts”. Now that I think of it, perhaps this is overengineering, if the said handshake ONLY happens after confirmed click/contact, the plug is already in the receptacle, hence, the contacts delivering the power are already out of reach by tiny fingers.Those with little kids know quite well how important to have ALL contacts of any kind out of reach. Because it is a matter of when, not if, that those tiny fingers will find a way to grab onto these. Hence, square plug with short stubby contacts that are far away, wide plug, tiny contacts inside.Back to the second kind I was thinking, sealed inductive loops, no contacts at all, and if the plug is large enough, maybe there is a way to push more than 100 watts AC, ethernet included. Kind of like a 1:1 transformer of sorts. I’d still keep few pins for the the initial handshake, though, because that’s as simple as it gets.",
"parent_id": "8191467",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191335",
"author": "Sammie Gee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T00:22:34",
"content": "But wait, there is more.I am looking at this thread/topic, and thinking “man/boy/bob-is-your-uncle, this had already been thought of and implemented, though, indirectly, not the way I thought it should have been done”.RJ45 is not the best jack around, since the pins are not built to deliver juicy currents, but the circuit is close enough to what I was thinking! With some commandeering/rethinking around this just might do. What’s missing is the plug/receptacle designed the way that would have enough pins to deliver power under 100 Watts, plus some other extra pins just in case; since everything is now digitized, there is no longer a need for separate dedicated pins for, say, speaker wiring, sound can travel over, say, S/PDIF feeds. No, not fiber, digital signals over the wires.Now here comes the best part. Since the plug was thought to be square, I thought that it should also include the inductive coupling loop running along the perimeter. Because it can also double as the wireless charger – and now there is plenty phones that can do that : -] Actually, the idea was “the moisture-resistant solution for boats should be a SEALED receptacle that maybe has two or three inductive loops – no pins – and there are some kind of plastic “guide posts” that make sure it clicks in the orientation needed”. Obviously, since it is a square, four different orientations might do.Back to the drawing board, I may have an idea worthy wasting the rest of my weekend.",
"parent_id": "8191302",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191370",
"author": "damntech",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T02:56:21",
"content": "I like your train of thought Sammy Gee. But 802.3 is what everyone is building off of. Kind of like the whole USB PD. Both of these things seem sub optimal but they are good enough. Adoptability is the key.In the case of the IEEE in regards to everything and 802.3 they are very aware of the regulations attached to the National Electrical Code. So a lot of this has to do not what is possible broadly speaking but what is possible within constraints.These constraints include the NEC which is the regulatory body everyone in USA is expected to abide by AND adoptability. 802.3i-1990 still works with many if not most switches today, and I found recently that there are brand new “Cloud optional” products that expect you to have 802.3i with 802.3at, PoE standard introduced in 2009…What company was that you ask? 2n, they make nice endpoints but sometimes their default software configuration is downright silly, they fixed it to support 802.3u-1995 “100BASE-T”, it was turned off in software.",
"parent_id": "8191302",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191399",
"author": "pelrun",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T05:29:46",
"content": "The reason they “seem sub-optimal” is that they are designed to support a far larger application space than is obvious to a single user. That flexibility means that they are rarely the easiest or nicest solution for any particular device, but they are “good enough” for many more things.The “optimal” solution for a specific application would end up being nearly or completely unusable for everything else.",
"parent_id": "8191370",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191638",
"author": "Sammie Gee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T14:00:55",
"content": "RE: damntech – thank you for pointing out the IEEE and NEC standards rabbit holes. Might as well touch-up on my (mostly ignored) knowledge of these.I am honestly quite skeptical about “everything HAS to be in the cloud” part; in the 1990s when I first thought about such universal power/data plug, it wasn’t exactly invented yet (though, I lied – AOL was already around, so were all kinds of dialup online communities, too, BBBs, etc). The circuit will have to be as simple as a wall wart, cheap enough to be produced in any part of the world, and include only parts readily obtainable at the (back then – 1990s) local Radio Shack. Op amps and FETs, obviously.Yep, the final solution may end up being only one-time use (my house) and nowhere else. I kinda already have few hacks around working despite standards (custom-made ethernet cable that splits off power lines), so for it is pie in the sky kind of deal.",
"parent_id": "8191370",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191387",
"author": "limroh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T04:29:39",
"content": "You do know there are two color schemes 586A & 568BANDat least three different pair combinations to transfer PoE power!!!!100BASE-TX spare pairs (unused).100BASE-TX data pairs (unused).all four pairs.",
"parent_id": "8191302",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191388",
"author": "limroh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T04:30:13",
"content": "correction:100BASE-TX spare pairs (unused).100BASE-TX data pairs.all four pairs.",
"parent_id": "8191387",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191472",
"author": "FeRDNYC",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T08:31:49",
"content": "TI-586A and TI-586B aren’t really color schemes, but rather pin-mapping schemes. They both rely on the same standard color scheme for a 4-pair cable. (Brown, ora",
"parent_id": "8191387",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191473",
"author": "FeRDNYC",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T08:33:09",
"content": "…nge, green, and blue, each in a twisted pair with a white-striped version of same.)",
"parent_id": "8191472",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191812",
"author": "limroh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T20:15:46",
"content": "Yeah, okayYou do know there are two color mapping schemes 586A & 568Bwould have been better. (not to mention that the 2nd set of pairs have the same colors in both schemes)",
"parent_id": "8191472",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191580",
"author": "PAUL BREED",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T12:31:24",
"content": "Caution to all designing POE devices.See this app note about the necessary protection to keep the POE from nulling the ethernet PHY.Fundamental problem is that the connectors may momentarily be partially connected during disconnect putting a big voltage across the transformer.https://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/aemDocuments/documents/OTH/ApplicationNotes/ApplicationNotes/00002157B.pdf",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191612",
"author": "Netnrrd",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T13:28:29",
"content": "As more and more POE stuff hits the network, including lights and cameras, there’s going to be issues with heat dissipation on the wires, particularly when you’ve got less highly trained installers who may not think about this issue. I can’t find a cite offhand, but at a conference someone was claiming that they managed to take a big thick bundle of cables and pipe a bunch of POE through many of the cables and the conductors in the center got warm enough to start causing damage to the ethernet cable sheathing.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191645",
"author": "Some Guy",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T14:10:09",
"content": "There isn’t an issue, I have 24 AP’s averaging about 18W each all in one bundle zip tied together in a cable tray running from one end of the racks to the other about 25 feet. I’ve inserted a multimeter temp probe into the center at multiple points, barely above room temp.Admittedly this is in a quite well cooled server room but seems typical as generally you start to fan out devices an not have a bunch of stuff in one place to be running POE to.This is an imagined problem, not a real one.",
"parent_id": "8191612",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
}
] | 1,760,371,402.848852
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/11/a-casio-toy-synth-is-ready-to-rock/
|
A Casio Toy Synth Is Ready To ROCK!
|
Jenny List
|
[
"Musical Hacks",
"Toy Hacks"
] |
[
"casio",
"synth",
"toy synth"
] |
There is likely to be more than one of you who has eyed up a child’s toy synthesizer in a second hand store, and considered making something more impressive with it. In many cases these instruments are underwhelming, having a very small subset of functions based into their black-epoxy-blob microcontrollers.
[Make Something] found a Casio toy synth
that has a few more functions than the average model, and with the addition of some extra effects electronics and a beautifully made case, turned it into an altogether more interesting instrument.
Most of the video has an element of workshop porn about it, as he makes a very nice Moog-style console case for it, a task made easier by an impressive array of CNC tools. The electronics are slightly more interesting, being a selection of cheap guitar pedals gutted and combined with a cheap tube preamp board. The result is a machine capable of some far more interesting sounds
We think many Hackaday readers would be able to repeat these functions from scratch without the pedals, and while the case is a thing of beauty it’s likely a decent job could be done with a little less finesse on more commonplace tools. Perhaps it’s worth giving those toy synths a second look, because they really can be had for pennies if you look hard enough. Perhaps it’s an easier option than
a previous toy musical upgrade
.
| 3
| 3
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8191242",
"author": "echodelta",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T19:33:48",
"content": "Lots of high definition work and then he goes for lo-fi sound, that’s when I stopped the vid. Hot glue and cardboard would suffice if I stay longer, good work otherwise.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191268",
"author": "Dan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T20:26:40",
"content": "Fantastic sounds and styling! And good musical skills! Very nice.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191615",
"author": "fiveseven",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T13:30:18",
"content": "I hope you got a good kickback from xTool for promoting that xTool advertisement.TWENTY EIGHT affiliate links! Amazing!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,402.767817
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/11/easy-for-the-masses/
|
Easy For The Masses
|
Elliot Williams
|
[
"Android Hacks",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Rants"
] |
[
"android",
"lowest common denominator",
"newsletter",
"open source",
"sideloading"
] |
Last week, we were talking about how glad we are to be the type who by-and-large understands technology, and how it’s becoming more and more difficult to simply get along otherwise. We thought we had a good handle on the topic.
Then, we were talking about Google’s plans to require an ID for Android developers, and whether or not this will shut down free and open software development on the Android platform. Would this be the end of the ability to run whatever software that you’d like on your phone? Google offered the figleaf that “sideloading” – installing software through methods other than Google’s official store, would still be be allowed. But there’s a catch – you have to use Android Debug Bridge (ADB).
Is that a relief? It surely means that
I
will be able to install anything I want: I use ADB all the time, because it’s one of the fastest and easiest ways to transfer files and update software on the device. But how many non-techies do you know who use ADB? We’d guess that requiring this step shuts out 99.9% of Android users. If you make software hard to install for the masses, even if you make it possible for the geeks, you’re effectively killing it.
I have long wondered why end-to-end encrypted e-mail isn’t the default. After all, getting a GPG signing key, distributing it to your friends, and then reading mail with supporting software shouldn’t be a big deal, right? If GPG signing were available by default in Outlook or GMail, everyone would sign their e-mail. But there is no dead-simple, non-techie friendly way to do so, and so nobody does it.
Requiring ADB to load Android software is going to have the same effect, and it’s poised to severely restrict the amount of good, open software we have on the platform unless we can figure out a way to make installing that software easy enough that even the naive users can do it.
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
!
| 71
| 17
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8191154",
"author": "G-man",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T14:33:57",
"content": "The people who use F-droid are the same people who can use ADB. I don’t think it will affect “the masses” in any noticeable way – one of my mates who is “sort of” tech savvy didn’t even know how to unlock dev mode on his phone to be able to install F-droid (which he’d never heard of).",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191156",
"author": "Then",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T14:38:48",
"content": "Exactly. Not sure what the point of this article is. Masses != developers. Developers == can use adb",
"parent_id": "8191154",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191488",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T09:00:09",
"content": "It’s just crocodile tears. The same people who argue along the lines that:If you make software hard to install for the masses, even if you make it possible for the geeks, you’re effectively killing it.…don’t seem to be able to understand how the same point applies to software distribution on platforms like Linux, and why that is a big part of the reason 97% of people don’t use it. Instead, they turn around and say it’s a good thing that independent software vendors have to go through or become distro developers to get their software into the repositories, so the users can have it easily – and repeat that X times over for all the users of all different distros.Sure, there’s flatpaks and whatnot, but try to make one that works “universally” to actually target all the users – can’t be done. There’s no drive to standardize to the point that it could work, so you still have to target a specific distro and version to gain access to its users. No wonder that software vendors generally don’t want to cater to Linux users, and therefore no wonder there aren’t more Linux users. If you want something better or different than the handful of applications the distro developers bother to maintain, you have to pull your geek boots on and start wading through the swamp. Most of the interesting software is on other platforms though, so why bother? Just use Windows, or buy a mac.Yes, you’re killing software by putting up barriers between the provider of the software and its users, but somehow there’s no problem when we do it. On the contrary it’s a great idea since it both protects the users from bad software and keeps the platform ideologically pure by discouraging commercial closed source software and developers who aren’t part of the community. Win-win-win.Yet there’s a big problem when Google does it. They should do as we tell, not as we do.",
"parent_id": "8191156",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191517",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T09:53:12",
"content": "This is btw. the same point why Symbian lost to Android.Symbian was, from the user’s point of view, much more open. Unless the carrier had removed all file management functions to make it into a “feature phone”, you could just download an EXE file and run it, and that’s your app.The problem was that Nokia built phones with heterogeneous hardware, because the engineering department operated in isolation from the software department, so each phone was optimized with unique hardware. The software department then had to adapt Symbian to each and every phone model, which fractured the platform into a multitude of versions and sub-versions, which then would not run the same app binaries.That made it hard for ISVs to target Nokia’s phones, because for each app they had to make 12 different versions, which in practice meant that they didn’t. Nokia smartphones had apps, but in practice they didn’t have apps – for your particular phone. The app you wanted, if it existed, was on theother versionand even if you had the right version of Symbian, that still didn’t guarantee that the app would actually work properly – if it was originally designed for a different Nokia phone.",
"parent_id": "8191488",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191770",
"author": "Sword",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T18:29:20",
"content": "Since when could you just “download and run an EXE” on symbian a linux phone distro?Did you just jumble together a bunch of stuff or use AI?",
"parent_id": "8191517",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191817",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T20:42:59",
"content": "on symbian a linux phone distro?Um, what? Symbian was based on EPOC, not Linux. The file extensions for executable files under EPOC/Symbian were .app, .opx, .opo, .dll, .exeThere was package management, called SIS, but you didn’t have to use that since programs could be run directly from any folder or directory. All you had to do was, get the files in the phone somehow. By memory card, web browser, data cable, IRdA… and then launch the program.",
"parent_id": "8191517",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192093",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T06:29:14",
"content": "As someone else pointed out this appears to have been entirely generated by one of the many chat bots. Try writing this sort of thing yourself.Essentially none of this is true. At the time Symbian was killed fromwithin, specifically in a VP driven attempt to push Windows mobile. Not because the incredibly fragmented mobile market couldn’t handle a major like it business oriented devices with an easy build platform (because, in fact, Symbianwaseasy to build for).People use app stores because they are convenient, when is not they try to download things from other vendors.",
"parent_id": "8191517",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192094",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T06:30:23",
"content": "Also, Symbian was literally a branch of Debian, so yes it was Linux.",
"parent_id": "8191517",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8192097",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T06:35:30",
"content": "This anti-Linux rant is largely incoherent, and unaware that in fact you can download and run programs, but it’s very rarely necessary. The internal software listings plus Flatpak are easily graphically accessable though, and a child can figure them out.You seem to have missed that when you decided an exe was necessary to run an application, please stop using chatbots to write your posts.",
"parent_id": "8191488",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8192099",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T06:41:47",
"content": "The point is that it’s a problem, and if you don’t think regular users side load… You don’t know anything about mobile users.Epic just won a lawsuit forcing vendors to allow their self-managed software on phones, their users (almost entirely children) have been sideloading Fortnite for a long time.Even governments push downloaded applications for mobile. This is also why this limitation isn’t likely to last. Apple got out of a few things by judges deciding a walled garden isn’t a monopoly, but Google’s more open ecosystem somehow is, but this situation won’t last forever.",
"parent_id": "8191156",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191157",
"author": "Exentio",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T14:41:02",
"content": "This is wildly untrue, F-Droid is way more easier to use than to ADB, it’s untethered, and lets the app and the OS handle everything for you. It’s just an alternative app store with FOSS software. F-Droid users are more likely to know how to use ADB or to be predisposed to learn how to use it since they’re very likely power users, but they don’t necessarily have to know how to use it",
"parent_id": "8191154",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191208",
"author": "limroh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T18:01:53",
"content": "Exactly – you can download F-Droid through the phone’s web-browser and install it after allowing “unsafe”(or something) apps to be installed.After that I think you can remove that global permission and grant it to F-Droid specifically.(not entirely sure)",
"parent_id": "8191157",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191809",
"author": "Nuno",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T20:00:45",
"content": "That’s correct.",
"parent_id": "8191208",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191158",
"author": "Thomas J",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T14:42:50",
"content": "Why should someonehaveto plug their phone into another device just to install/update an app? This is a completely artificial restriction, with only anti-consumer “upsides”. Just because someone knows how to use ADB doesn’t mean that they should have to do so just to have normal functionality.I don’t need to plug a cable into a serial port (assuming that there is one) on my PC motherboard just to install software that isn’t signed by some third party. I can do that, I have UART-USB adapters, but it’d be an extra hassle of a step that isn’t needed.",
"parent_id": "8191154",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191367",
"author": "Raf Cel",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T02:47:41",
"content": "+1",
"parent_id": "8191158",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191876",
"author": "Skree",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T22:59:48",
"content": "This is the final nail in the coffin for free speech apps like ICE block that rely on crowdsourcing, but have have been banned from Google.If you don’t care for that specific app, I’m sure you’re creative enough to conceive of one you do, and to consider the broader effects.There will also be less development if the audience isn’t there.",
"parent_id": "8191154",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192100",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T06:43:55",
"content": "They really aren’t, and you aren’t even thinking of the many popular 3rd party stores for Android that aren’t aimed at technical people. Maybe you don’t know much about mobile users?",
"parent_id": "8191154",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192121",
"author": "frenchone",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:20:25",
"content": "The people who use F-droid are the same people who can use ADBNo they are not.",
"parent_id": "8191154",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191164",
"author": "Jouni",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T15:34:41",
"content": "Isn’t Android open source? How come Google can dictate such things?Looks like Android is just another walled garden. Or has it always been?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191195",
"author": "SETH",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T17:17:34",
"content": "I believe there is a stock vanilla android. But bootstrapping the hardware is so complex we have android versions per each device.",
"parent_id": "8191164",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191240",
"author": "Jii",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T19:30:43",
"content": "Google mobile services apps are proprietary, if you want them in your system, then you do as Google says. Google also does most of the development and they dictate what goes into the official releases. You can fork it, but then you need to take care of the fork.You know, things like that.",
"parent_id": "8191164",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191170",
"author": "G",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T15:47:55",
"content": "The Android change will limit the available software, but not because “the masses” aren’t able to figure out how to install things.Usersof free and open source software are almost exclusively free riders who do not contribute to its creation. The problem is that it will make it substantially more annoying and inconvenient foreverybody, including software developers, to install what they want on their phones.Additionally, the change signals that Android has become hostile territory. Writing software for a hostile environment is also known as reverse engineering, which requires additional time and different skills compared to unimpeded creative coding.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191172",
"author": "Volker Birk",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T15:49:02",
"content": "We’re doing dead simple email encryption. Unfortunately, we don’t have the money to publicly support anymore. We’re working on a solution for this. Until then, we can only offer to paying customers, unfortunately. The software is 100 % free software, though. The sources are publicly available.Volker Birkp≡p project",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191176",
"author": "der_schopi",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T16:16:00",
"content": "So someone will code, probably vibe-code, a graphical wrapper for ADB with some setup smarts in it? So “the masses” get a easy to use tool to “sideload” stuff.But here’s the thing I don’t see mentioned, and by all means I don’t want to discourage the Google-bashing because they’ve earned it for a lot of things (imho), but reducing the possibility to install any old APK with maybe malicious code inside that you get from a shady place (cracked games or softwares, that sort of stuff kids do?) seems like a good move. People that are able to use ADB may be better estimating risks of unmoderated software packages, whereas the typical not-informed user might not be able to see a risk.Like with a lot of things, this could be seen two or even more ways – a grey area, as you may call it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191193",
"author": "Alphatek",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T17:11:17",
"content": "I agree. There’ll be a PC-based store that automatically installs over ADB in no time.",
"parent_id": "8191176",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191771",
"author": "Sword",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T18:31:19",
"content": "So if Microsoft decided not to let you install Steam games, but said “Well you can still install from CD/DVD” you would be ok with that?",
"parent_id": "8191193",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192049",
"author": "Zai1208",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T04:03:58",
"content": "But what if there was a way to have steam emulate installing from CD/DVD, continuing that analogy, it’s fully possible for f-droid to use adb to install apps, especially since same device adb has been possible without root since android 9",
"parent_id": "8191771",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192124",
"author": "frenchone",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:30:20",
"content": "same device adb without root ? how ? where ?",
"parent_id": "8192049",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8192131",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:37:15",
"content": "Did he say he was okay with this? He just said there will be a piece of PC software that automatically installs ADB developed quickly. What you implied is an entire different sentence.",
"parent_id": "8191771",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8192123",
"author": "frenchone",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:26:46",
"content": "There’ll be a PC-based store that automatically installs over ADB in no time.And then what next ? When you’ll have to side load the installation of a store on your PC, you’ll explain that one could use a Fridge-based store that will allow you to install software on your PC using TOSLINK ?",
"parent_id": "8191193",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191216",
"author": "kfazz",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T18:21:34",
"content": "How is this different from downloading a random exe from the Internet on a Windows PC and installing it? Sure MS will yell at you if it’s not signed by a known publisher, but you can still do it. What if the windows store was the only way to add ‘apps’ to a PC OS? I don’t see why people aren’t making more of a stink about this, given that in 2025 smartphones are many peoples’ main/only computing device.",
"parent_id": "8191176",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191258",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T20:09:20",
"content": "Nah this is just rent seeking from the Big G – pay for your developer licence so your stuff is signed and can actually be used by the general population. Which for good measure brings you most of the way in hoop jumping to just listing it on the play store so they can take their cut of all your sales…It doesn’t do anything to protect from malicious packages, and I’d bet Google doesn’t actually care at all as there have been so many junk apk on the store they should have noticed relatively easily and purged, but don’t. If anything Google probably like this change even more as the occasional developer having gone to far that does get ritually cut off to great fanfare of how much safer it makes their users will simply have to pay them their fee again for a new developer account. Which they won’t much care about as that developer of malware won’t care at that tiny fee to be able to exploit the huge market of users…",
"parent_id": "8191176",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192045",
"author": "Zai1208",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T04:00:45",
"content": "If someone has a phone with android 9 or above, they can useladb(paid but open source), builds availableherewhich allows for using adb to “sideload” apks onto their device without a computer, surely f-droid can adopt this somehow",
"parent_id": "8191176",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191178",
"author": "SETH",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T16:25:21",
"content": "Devils advocate here. Malicious apps are a huge problem for Android. Sideloading random apk you find on the net has had detrimental outcomes. I browse archive.org APK archive, but I stopped bc I have no assurances of the safety of sideloading. Nefarious use is the dominant use case here, people attempting to steal games outnumber developers building apps.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191259",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T20:10:17",
"content": "And the playstore is in your opinion actually safe and free from bad actors?!?!?!?!",
"parent_id": "8191178",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191324",
"author": "BitUniverse",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T00:08:08",
"content": "You don’t have any assurances that an executable for desktops is safe. How is it any different?",
"parent_id": "8191178",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191180",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T16:40:57",
"content": "so all you need is and ID? what’s the problem?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191253",
"author": "Cogidubnus Rex",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T19:55:18",
"content": "A little money and sending your government ID to Google.",
"parent_id": "8191180",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191415",
"author": "martin",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T06:18:03",
"content": "And hope like hell that it doesnt end up onhttps://haveibeenpwned.com/",
"parent_id": "8191253",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191468",
"author": "Jan-Willem",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T08:28:33",
"content": "Where today it is to identify yourself and pay a small fee, this barrier to entry is likely to increase over time. Furthermore, they can revoke credentials if you do something they don’t like. Where, doing stuff vendors don’t like is very much a necessity when doing meaningful security research.",
"parent_id": "8191180",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191470",
"author": "Sword",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T08:29:03",
"content": "So a private company just wants all your personal information, including current address and a number that can directly be used to steal your identity. . .That they will sell to others. . .Yeah whats the problem",
"parent_id": "8191180",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192132",
"author": "sweethack",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:37:33",
"content": "The problem is that Google should pay you for your ID information. Your software makes their platform useful, not the other way around. If they absolutely need your ID information, they have to afford it. Making your pay for giving your data is like double penalty. You’re already paying them with your data for everything else, now they want even more!",
"parent_id": "8191180",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192133",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:38:34",
"content": "When the local authorities decides to blacklist yours because they don’t like what you’re developing.",
"parent_id": "8191180",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191190",
"author": "Ben",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T17:06:21",
"content": "So, how long till they lock the apps that are installed via adb into some sandbox with limited access to the rest of the phone? Similarly like they neutered addons in chome with manifest v3. You know, because of security .",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192129",
"author": "frenchone",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:35:57",
"content": "I lost so many add-ons with manifest v3 that I switched back to firefox for there is no interest in running chrome anymore",
"parent_id": "8191190",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191197",
"author": "eeucalyptus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T17:20:07",
"content": "I find this really concerning. Considering chat control that is once again a real threat in the EU und probably soon enough in the US and worldwide, being able to run our own software is becoming more and more important. Also what’s the use of being able to have your own software if you’re alone with it…I’m not one to say “wake up people” light-heartedly, but this might well be a pretty large step towards serious restrictions in how you can privately communicate on the internet.I get that malware is a problem on android. But this even holds for play store apps. It’s not like having to present a (fake) ID is going to stop hostile people from doing evil. It’s only going to stop “the good guys*”. It’s nothing but incapacitating and even insulting.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191255",
"author": "Cogidubnus Rex",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T20:03:42",
"content": "Chat control is quite simply a (sad) joke. Proposed by a Swedish Social Democrat (take note – the Social Democrats have a long standing tradition of saying things at one point in time, then flat out denying they said it later on, hoping nobody notices), who as mentioned in the parenthesis later on denied being behind it or even supporting it!?!They say they expect to be able to implement it by monitoring encrypted comms and ‘sensing’ bad content, without actually looking at the content aka looking at a fibre and seeing what’s flowing over it. To the masses this likely sounds reasonable – to those with the slightest knowledge you know they can only do this by inspecting ALL your pre-encrypted traffic, but obviously if they say that the proposal would be almost dead in the water.",
"parent_id": "8191197",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192134",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:40:34",
"content": "“A (sad) joke” describes a lot of those countries these days..",
"parent_id": "8191255",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191210",
"author": "Jack Dansen",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T18:09:37",
"content": "There are alternative versions of Android, but Google keeps finding ways to make those less viable, like breaking RCS and disallowing Wallet and encouraging more people to use Play Integrity. I think eventually Google is gonna overplay their hand and enough people are going to opt out of Android proper that these services are simply not going to be used by enough people that everyone has to reject them or offer viable alternatives.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191212",
"author": "Ian",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T18:11:47",
"content": "Your premise is technically correct, but requires multiple reading to actually understand it, which is bad because it initially SOUNDS like you are making the opposite statement.You (paraphrased for clarity): it is getting more and more difficult to get by without having a good understanding of technology.That is true, and GOOD.Tech has become far too easy in the last few decades. This leads to LESS technical expertise.Anyone can go to Wikipedia and FEEL like they know something. This is a problem, because now they don’t listen to actual experts.Anyone can spend $dinner to buy a dev board, fiddle with it, and ‘understand’ electronics.The problem is, commitment and repetition are IMPORTANT parts of understanding.Tech knowledge today is mostly casual. And I don’t mean most people have it. I mean the bar for entry is now SO LOW that you can comfortably stop learning/doing without feeling like you have wasted any sunk costs.Making things easier is FANTASTIC for people who were already going to put that effort and commitment into it. We can learn/do twice as much.But for people who never were going to commit, they know less than ever.The Apple-ification/Android-ification of computing has been such an awful thing for tech knowledge. Things are now so easy, and users have been trained to rely on the system suggesting(or steering you to) what it thinks you want, that users have no clue how to even use a computer anymore. Tech knowledge for highschool graduates is lower than it has been in the last 25 years.I certainly don’t want my permissions revoked, since I’m more than willing to put in the due diligence, and I understand the risks. But at the same time, ‘normies’ genuinely ARE children who need to be told not to pick things up off the street and put them in their mouth. If we need to make it harder for morons to ignore safeguards so they stop constantly getting malware, then so be it. They need to be treated like children.Imagine if 90% of drivers didn’t know they should go to a mechanic if their check engine light was on, and all kept driving until their engines blew up.“My new laptop is slow and weird after only 3 months. Fix it?”Fixing the laptop is faster than fixing the person, but doesn’t actually fix the problem…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191450",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T07:58:44",
"content": "If we need to make it harder for morons to ignore safeguards so they stop constantly getting malware, then so be it.But we don’t. It’s their problem, not yours or mine.If you make yourself the babysitter of the “dumb public”, then you’re making infants out of everyone and making sure you have to keep babysitting them forever. That’s a great tactic if you want to be a left wing politician, but ultimately it’s just wasting your time.",
"parent_id": "8191212",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191586",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T12:48:25",
"content": "Tech has become far too easy in the last few decades. This leads to LESS technical expertise.Really not true, tech always aimed to be easy for the user, even in the old copy code from the magazine by hand era you don’t have to understand it at all, just follow the instructions.The bit that has changed is tech now by default tends toward actively trying to prevent the user from learning anything about it – NDA, obfuscated code, legal action if you reverse engineer anything and UI that hides the fact there are many configurable variables you could and in many cases really should be interacting with to have a proper setup rather than one that ‘works’. You are as the user not allowed to learn if you also wish to use the service to a large extent.So those $dinner dev boards and the internet are just about the last bastion that lets the uninitiated learn anything about how computing and electronics actually works, and should be celebrated for existing for that reason alone. It really isn’t any different to you and your C64 (etc) ‘playing’ with some provided code as you start to understand how things worked!",
"parent_id": "8191212",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191215",
"author": "limroh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T18:16:15",
"content": "Re – GPG e2e encrypted mail:To me the main reason is that there’s no official requirement anywhere.How many countries have ID with electronic functionality that could (have been designend to) be used to sign stuff.Imagine that – a lot less fraud per mail because every company sending you a bill must sign it with their public key (which in turn may have been signed by some kind of state key).Of course one would still be able to use/sign “unofficial” keys but if the option to use your ID card to GPG sign something with your name existed.If banks, financial or really any companies were required by law to only send you signed eMails and the customer must be able to verify it…. (initially the company could just add their public key to paper mail they send to you anyway (QR-code)).",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191249",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T19:44:37",
"content": "Really a frustrating sequence of commentary from Hackaday, and from some of the users as well. More than half of what I’ve read on this subject has been baselessly alarmist. TBH, it mirrors a lot of political discourse. People are obsessed with the principle of the thing but very few are consideringwhoandwhatwith enough specificity to say anything correct.You consider a specific user and app and suddenly it doesn’t look like a big deal. For example, many of the apps on F-droid are already signed by verified google developers. This doesn’t kill F-droid, it’s just another in a long long line of nuissances they’ll have to deal with. An app developer that is trying to reach for the masses will jump through Google’s hoops. A member of the masses who is trying to install an app is probably going tobenefitfrom being prevented from installing malware.The app developer who is harmed by this is someone who wants to make an app for the masses but doesn’t want to use the play store. That venn diagram is two disjoint circles.The end user who is harmed by this is someone who wants to hack his phone but can’t follow simple directions to install adb. The venn diagram here has a huge overlap — lots of people want to fall for scams! I don’t think we need to enable their mistake.The particularly frustrating thing here is thatthere is a fire, but y’all are freaking out about something that’s not even smoke.I’ve been sshing into my phone to install my own apps for about a decade now and it’s never worked well. Google keeps changing the Intent you have to create to accomplish this, and they keep changing the UI to accept the Intent, and it has worked well for a couple disjoint 6 month long eras, punctuated by pointless churn. The ssh server i use (and wrote) has been deleted from the play store because google decided to ban all apps that use file management permissions but aren’t file managers (and they aren’t willing to consider that people are using ssh to manage files). That’s about 30,000 active users left out in the cold by Google. As a developer, they not only break the API every year, but they also break the compatibility layers! Entirely new compatibility methodologies every couple years. They keep breaking the build system! The online documentation is a javascript nightmare that, with stock Chrome, brings my 8-core 32GB RAM computer to its knees! Instead of making a reasonable permission system for things like background execution, they keep making one system that is overly permissive, and then a year later throwing it away and replacing it with another system that is overly permissive. And none of these systems have ever worked because every single vendor responds to “my new phone’s battery only lasts 6 hours” reviews by sabotaging Google’s overly-permissive system.Like, a core function of my phone is a bespoke app that synchronizes my notes across all my platforms. 5 minutes after i stop using it, i want it to phone home in the background. But it hasnever worked! I keep adopting the Google API du jour. I keep jumping through the hoops — now it’s a background service, now it’s a broadcastreceiver, now it’s a JobScheduler. It doesn’t matter, every single one of them has been only about 80% successful. Sometimes, the job is scheduled and it simply doesn’t run. And every one of them has been broken by google changing its mind.And just as a regular end user, core apps are a poop-hitting-fan experience. Messages, Clock, and now Gboard keep getting broken. Pointless frustrating churn, but also overt bugs! These are core to the Android experience and Google just doesn’t care! I keep getting pop-up spam from Google, and i can’t block it. Every time i block a category of notification, they invent a new category to get around it. Clock has a splash screen it shows while you wait for it to load!!! YOU WAIT FOR CLOCK TO LOAD!!!There’s a real problem, Google is the new Microsoft. This app signing requirement isn’t even a footnote to that problem.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191265",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T20:18:55",
"content": "There’s a real problem, Google is the new Microsoft. This app signing requirement isn’t even a footnote to that problem.Mostly agreed, however this is one of the most overt and obvious bad actions, and one you can actually explain to the less technically minded in a way they will understand it. Big G acting in bad faith with excessive control and money grubbing methods isn’t new, but events that make it obvious to a wider audience are relative rare. For instance I didn’t know about your file management permission problem at all, that particular annoyance is a new one to me, as it has never affected me personally (probably because my few devices are rarely used and actually stuck on very old manufacturer kernels with a postmarketOS rebadge – been needing to get something that isn’t 10+ years old for a while really, but as I rarely actually need a mobile and the ecosystem has been going to hell…).",
"parent_id": "8191249",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191356",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T01:45:48",
"content": "No, you can get people riled up with this issue but no one is trying to explain it to them, only to get them riled up about it. If properly understood, it’s nothing.",
"parent_id": "8191265",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191593",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T13:08:41",
"content": "It really isn’t nothing – it is not quite BMW heated seat now having subscription costs to use, but its well on the way to being that. And is a problem that will actually bother a reasonably significant portion of the users, certainly a much larger group than just the handful of developers pulling their hair out at some small highly technical annoyance.",
"parent_id": "8191356",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191819",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T20:55:21",
"content": "that will actually bother a reasonably significant portion of the usersLike what? Be more precise.I claim that 99.9% of phone users never need anything outside of the Play store.",
"parent_id": "8191593",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192223",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T11:48:36",
"content": "@Dude I’m not Google or a phone brand to have all the data on their customers to be precise. However I can’t believe for a moment its only .1% – almost certainly more like 5% as a minimum, and if you include the vendor provided stores as not play store quite possibly in the 30 odd percent.But F-Droid’s continued existence is in its own right rather darn suggestive the population of users for software from outside of the playstore is vastly vastly greater than the number of Android software developers – which was my point anyway. Bothering the few thousand or more likely tens of android developers bothered by any of the changes Greg is annoyed by vs bothering all the users of F-droid just as a starter…",
"parent_id": "8191593",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191777",
"author": "Sword",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T18:40:36",
"content": "You are assuming that ADB will remain viable permanently.You also ignore people like me who have no desire to reach widespread masses, but do share some of my programs with other non-technical people who can benefit from them.In addition you ignore developers that don’t want to expose ALL of their PII, including current address and a number that can literally be used to steal your identity, to a private company, who’s business it is to sell your information.There are literally TONS of reasons to be beyond infuriated with thisandconcerned with the future.Or would you support Microsoft disallowing game installs from Steam, “but you can still install them from the Microsoft store, or via DVD”No bud, that is malicious to the max",
"parent_id": "8191249",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192101",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T06:47:54",
"content": "Right, and you don’t even have to endless paranoia here, there are many many cases where people will need to load software that is not in the app store or signed or signed by Google. I’ve been thinking this entire proposal was strange when it was first announced because this is like an invitation for additional lawsuits in the EU, and if Google somehow decides that this is going to be a regional thing that’s just not going to work.My guess is that this was actually pushed by a third party, and Google is willing to let public opinion play it out because they have enough money to weather this strategically.",
"parent_id": "8191777",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191304",
"author": "robert friel",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T22:26:45",
"content": "Step one make the fig leaf of still open adb.Step two, since this requires a secondary device or a wilder wireless adb loopbacking setup while inevitably less secure.. and less visible and understood.. wait for inevitable security issues around workaround solutions employing the path to occur.Step three use said issues as excuse to remove that path too.It’s engineered “stop punching yourself” with a heaping of extra anti user, profit seeking, and a side of doing this to protect you more from the results of the options we chose for you.All of this doubled for regions where bootloader unlocking has become impossible outside googles own devices and imports with poor band or carrier whitelist support.It’s also worth noting that not everyone has a second device in the form of an open computer platform, and this goes extra for some regions so even the optional path to enable tools for wireless adb loop back on device becomes an extra hurdle.We have a very capable computer in our pocket. It should be able to be the Swiss army knife du jour to solve when you need it on the spot issues with.Instead it consistently becomes less useful than almost any other approach at anything.Lock most people in a cave, with their device and a sheet of hints on talking to the door lock wirelessly to get out.Without massive pre setup they’d now remain locked up forever if they don’t have a correct second device, if the right approved appstore tool chain to do devwork on device and deploy approved registered app to work the door isn’t available. If the dev registrations down or abandoned being sol, you name it.You can otherwise manage people searching and script kidding their way to a chance of escape, but not like this.It’s bad and extra fragile.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192103",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T06:53:24",
"content": "If you use adb and loopback locally you don’t need to use wireless, why would that be necessary at all? Have you never run local servers?Aside from that, this isn’t about adb at all. It’s about creating a walled garden because that allowed apple to get out of monopoly charges in court. There’s also the likelihood of other pressure (consider UK id policy and US shenanigans), but for Google’s lawyers this is probably enough to go over their engineer’s reports saying it’s going to backfire. The EU isn’t likely to take it lying down either.",
"parent_id": "8191304",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191342",
"author": "OBM",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T00:49:21",
"content": "Banking apps, government apps, even heating control apps like neasmart refuse to work when ADB or debug mode is enabled. For your security (TM).It is a pity you can not exist without a cellphone in my country. How did it become such a shackle?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192136",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:43:23",
"content": "“How could this big sinister iron ring with a lock on it become such a shackle? If only somebody had foreseen this!”",
"parent_id": "8191342",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191576",
"author": "Peter van Hoof",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T12:21:26",
"content": "YAcbTq3fvk",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191578",
"author": "Peter van Hoof",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T12:29:07",
"content": "I believe Google will be forced to create an option to remove this restriction in the settings. This reeks like an attempt to create a monopoly and courts will have to get involved. It would be a different matter if authentication was free and provided by an independent organization but this is not Google’s goal it’s just another way to create a revenue stream.",
"parent_id": "8191576",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192104",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T06:57:10",
"content": "Almost exactly, but you are missing the part where a judge decided Apple’s walled garden meant they aren’t a monopoly (wonder how much that cost), so to Google lawyers, this isn’t just about profit, it’s indemnification from repeated lawsuits they have been losing for quite a while now.Still I think you’re right, and that they will be forced to allow people to opt out of it because the situation is ridiculous even without some judge deciding on Apple’s behalf questionably.",
"parent_id": "8191578",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192119",
"author": "Sword",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T07:58:51",
"content": "The stupid thing is that already exists. In order to install something not from Play, you need to enable the toggle in Developer Settings, which is hidden by default.I am very glad I switched to a hybris/halium linux phone a year ago at this point. Having direct hardware access, the ability to use any programming language I want, hell even scripts with a .desktop file to launch from the UI.Truely a breath of fresh air.",
"parent_id": "8192104",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191957",
"author": "wow, just wow",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T01:48:56",
"content": "do any of you in this comment section understand that a fair bit of people who have phones don’t have computers, and still sideload apps and the such?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192105",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T06:58:25",
"content": "I was pretty shocked myself. It’s like they have no idea how much phones are used now, despite complaining about it.",
"parent_id": "8191957",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
}
] | 1,760,371,403.932853
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/11/toasty-subwoofer-limps-back-to-life/
|
Toasty Subwoofer Limps Back To Life
|
Al Williams
|
[
"Repair Hacks",
"Teardown"
] |
[
"repair",
"subwoofer"
] |
[JohnAudioTech] noticed there was no bass on the TV at his parents’ house. That led to the discovery of a blown fuse and
a corresponding repair
. When he opened it up, he could smell that something had gone on in the amplifier. You can follow the repair in the video below.
His first theory was that some glue became conductive and shorted the power rails. We were skeptical, to be honest. When he fed power to it through a current limiter, he could hear a sizzling noise and even see a little glowing from the hot component.
Disassembly ensued. Removing the suspect components showed some seriously burned components and some charring under a switching transistor. The capacitors looked much worse for wear, and the PCB needed some wires to jumper burned conductors.
At the end, there was thumping, so it seems the surgery was a success. However, testing blew a fuse again, which made us nervous. Still, seems to work if you don’t drive it too hard.
We always enjoy watching a
teardown
, and if there’s a
repair
too, that’s even better.
| 6
| 5
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8191119",
"author": "limroh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T12:06:09",
"content": "FSM damn it – first it’s “A Fun Action Generator From The Past” and now a “Tasty subwoofer …”. Dunno what’s wrong but the HaD titles aren’t at fault. ;-)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191163",
"author": "robomonkey",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T15:31:44",
"content": "I don’t buy the adhesive being the reason for the failure. That looks like a leaky cap issue. Should have done it right and shotgunned both caps and used the right fuse.At least it’s working.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191373",
"author": "Cody",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T03:10:09",
"content": "Yeah, I also suspect that the dead cap leaked and cause board to arc. It was too close to the rectifier and got cooked. That type of glue can definitely become conductive and arc though.",
"parent_id": "8191163",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191187",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T16:56:09",
"content": "For the parents?No.Buy a cheap new ClassD subwoofer amp and ‘rewire it’.I did a little Googling on ‘V1020 subwoofer’This thing is $252 new on Amazon. 10 inch sub.Claims 160watts rms, but photo in FA shows it only draws 100!?Well worth repairing, speaker capable of being the key part of a perpetual motion machine.Just not for the parents…Put in new amp and take burnt one for free power project, Profit!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191252",
"author": "echodelta",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T19:51:40",
"content": "I fixed one like that one it had zeners for the plus-minus supply till they cooked off the board and the rest survived.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191322",
"author": "HB icecream",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T23:48:22",
"content": "Nice to see John Audio Tech getting a shout out! He had like 100 subscribers when I originally came across the channel, he does put the effort in, so glad to see his stuff is spreading.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,402.944783
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/11/the-electret-preamp-you-might-need/
|
The Electret Preamp You Might Need
|
Jenny List
|
[
"home entertainment hacks"
] |
[
"audio",
"electret",
"microphone",
"preamp"
] |
Electret capsules can be found in some of the highest quality microphones for studio use, as well as in some of the very cheapest microphone capsules on the market. More care and attention has gone into the high-end capsule and its associated circuitry than the cheap one, but is it still possible to get good quality from something costing under a dollar? [Mubarak Basha] thinks so,
and has designed a preamp circuit to get the best from a cheap electret capsule
.
These capsules may be cheap, but with the addition of a low voltage supply, a resistor, and a capacitor, their internal FET delivers a decent enough input to many a project. To improve on that will need a bit of effort, and in this the preamp delivers by taking care to match impedance, impose a carefully chosen frequency response, and just the right gain to derive a line level output from the electret’s level. It’s hardly a complex circuit, but that’s not always necessary.
As always in these situations, without appropriate test equipment it’s difficult to gauge quality. We’d say this though, if you make one of these and it falls short, you won’t have spent much. Meanwhile if you’re curious about electrets,
here’s our guide
.
| 19
| 5
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8191101",
"author": "Süleyman Yasin Dundar",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T10:11:15",
"content": "Lodestone contributes to generating a clear-pitch voice in microphones by enhancing the performance of electret capsules. Electret capsules, which utilize a permanently charged material, are versatile and used in both high-end and inexpensive microphones. The high-quality capsules usually have more refined circuitry, leading to better audio quality. However, even affordable capsules can produce good sound through effective design. Incorporating lodestone can stabilize the diaphragm within the electret capsule, allowing for more accurate vibrations in response to sound waves. This stability helps ensure that the signals generated from voice input are clearer and more precise. Additionally, the design of specialized preamp circuits can further optimize the output from these inexpensive capsules, allowing the inherent benefits of lodestone to shine through, thus producing a clear-pitch voice in the microphone. This combination allows for quality sound reproduction even in lower-cost microphones.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191105",
"author": "Iman",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T10:27:04",
"content": "You should write articles for high-end audiophile magazines. But HaD might be a good start, especially if being accurate or proof-reading is not your thing.",
"parent_id": "8191101",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191120",
"author": "Ewald",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T12:06:37",
"content": "AI generated nonsense",
"parent_id": "8191101",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191175",
"author": "AP",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T16:12:36",
"content": "HaD needs to do something about AI slop comments.",
"parent_id": "8191120",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191166",
"author": "takeyourvalium",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T15:35:44",
"content": "It’s quite amusing that your comment not only surpasses the original article in length but also seems to be AI-generated, which feels a bit out of place in a section meant for genuine human input. Ironically, in a tongue-in-cheek twist, I’ve enlisted AI to craft this very response. Guess we’re both riding the same wave here!I used ChatGPT on a Mac M4 to write this.",
"parent_id": "8191101",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191213",
"author": "lightislight",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T18:12:25",
"content": "Someone using AI generated the idea to make a basic and not so great amplification stage. AI encouraged that this was good because why test things when you have a chat bot to tell you its good.Someone then wrote an article using an LLM about it. Then someone AI generated a comment to boost engagement using AI. You then piled onto this nonsense using AI. I have now wasted 5 minutes of my life, and the world is closer to being less hospitable. Good show, lets ride this wave while there’s still water.",
"parent_id": "8191166",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191358",
"author": "Eric Parker",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T01:55:33",
"content": "Yeah, I was trying to point out the absurdity of the whole thing.I used My own human brain to compose and human fingers to type this.",
"parent_id": "8191213",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191630",
"author": "Sulio Pulev",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T13:48:50",
"content": "The guy is Indian and Indians are well known to destroy whatever they touch.",
"parent_id": "8191213",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191757",
"author": "Hussien",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T17:52:02",
"content": "That’s racist.",
"parent_id": "8191630",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192108",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T07:04:07",
"content": "It looks like you are too preoccupied with bigotry to actually engage with the content, find something better to do.",
"parent_id": "8191630",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191449",
"author": "Iman",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T07:56:47",
"content": "The same guy with many avatars (syd, EEEngineer4Ever, and God who knows which new ones) that made the crufty USB-PD “lab-grade” power supply using regulators for the 90s, And AI-gloating about it…",
"parent_id": "8191101",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192107",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T07:02:02",
"content": "If you didn’t want to actually write a post, don’t, or at least just post a link to Wikipedia, not generated garbage derived from corporate marketing",
"parent_id": "8191101",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191135",
"author": "fiveseven",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T12:56:46",
"content": "A basic non-inverting op amp stage is a hack now?“Studio quality” but uses the worst performing biasing scheme.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191753",
"author": "hartl",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T17:42:29",
"content": "It’s a hack because running a LM733 or NE5532 with a 5V supply is far off from manufacturer’s recommendations but still works somehow.",
"parent_id": "8191135",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191235",
"author": "David",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T19:08:09",
"content": "Hmmm. Seems worse than “Mitey Mic”published a decade or three ago in Audio Amateur.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192109",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T07:05:49",
"content": "I’d forgotten what it was called, but yeah.",
"parent_id": "8191235",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191337",
"author": "petermarxy",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T00:27:09",
"content": "VCC is 5V, the mic gets 4.5V and the input to the +ve of the op amp is 5V/2 so 2.5V. It looks to me that C1’s polarity is reversed.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191390",
"author": "Isaac Wingfield",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T04:59:27",
"content": "You can make a perfectly functional electret mic preamp from 3/4 of a 74C04, three resistors, and two capacitors.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191762",
"author": "hartl",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T18:06:51",
"content": "Replace the ¾ 74C04 with one BC549. Less noise and easier to source.",
"parent_id": "8191390",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
}
] | 1,760,371,403.138471
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/10/programming-space-game-for-x86-in-assembly-without-an-operating-system/
|
Programming Space Game For X86 In Assembly Without An Operating System
|
John Elliot V
|
[
"computer hacks",
"Games",
"Software Hacks"
] |
[
"UEFI",
"x86 assembly"
] |
In this video our hacker [Inkbox] shows us
how to create a computer game that runs directly on computer hardware
, without an operating system!
[Inkbox] briefly explains what BIOS is, then covers how UEFI replaces it. He talks about the genesis of UEFI from Intel in the late 90s. After Intel’s implementation of UEFI was made open source it got picked up by the
TianoCore
community who make tools such as the
TianoCore EDK II
.
[Inkbox] explains that the UEFI implementation provides boot services and runtime services. Boot services include things such as loading memory management facilities or running other UEFI applications, and runtime services include things like system clock access and system reset. In addition to these services there are many more UEFI protocols that are available.
[Inkbox] tells us that when an x64 CPU boots it jumps to memory address 0xfffffff0 that contains the initialization instructions which will enter protected mode, verify the firmware, initialize the memory, load the storage and graphics drivers, then run the UEFI Boot Manager. The UEFI Boot Manager will in turn load the appropriate EFI application, such as the firmware settings manager application (the “BIOS settings”), Windows Boot Manager, or GRUB. In this video we make our very own EFI application that the UEFI Boot Manager can be configured to load and run.
The system used for development and testing has a
AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370
CPU and 32GB DDR5 RAM.
Having explained how everything gets started [Inkbox] goes on to explain how to write and deploy the assembly language program which will load and play the game. [Inkbox] shows how to read and write to the console and mentions that he did his testing on QEMU with an image on an external USB thumbdrive. He goes on to show how to use the system time and date facilities to get the current month. When trying to read nanoseconds from the system clock he ended up needing to refer to the
UEFI Specification
Release 2.10 (2.11 is latest as of this writing).
In the rest of the video [Inkbox] does some arithmetic for timing, uses LocateProtocol to load the graphics output provider, configures an appropriate video mode, writes to the screen using BLT operations, and makes the program run on multiple CPU cores (the CPU used has 24). At last, with some simple graphics programming and mouse input, [Inkbox] manages to get Space Game for x86 to run.
If you’re interested in knowing more about UEFI a good place to start is
What’s The Deal With UEFI?
| 40
| 14
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8191036",
"author": "Julianne",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T05:38:52",
"content": "I understand it can be an interesting challenge, but is there any advantage to bare metal programming over relying on an OS for handling all the annoying and device specific nitty gritty?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191061",
"author": "alloydog",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T06:21:40",
"content": "Anything to avoid paying for a license for Windows, without pirating it? 😉",
"parent_id": "8191036",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191071",
"author": "John Elliot V",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T07:01:41",
"content": "I can’t think of any advantage at all. Trying to program a computer without an operating system is not a good idea, except if your goal is to understand more about how the machine works…",
"parent_id": "8191036",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191086",
"author": "Julianne",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T08:25:01",
"content": "Could there be some sort of (theoretical) performance boost due to computational overhead being skipped?",
"parent_id": "8191071",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191091",
"author": "John Elliot V",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T08:52:05",
"content": "Yeah maybe some small theoretical performance boost but none that would be worth the insane development costs you’d be taking on. Ordinarily when you write a normal program that runs in an operating system the program runs in user space and you need to syscall into the operating system to do things the OS facilitates (reading and writing files, for instance). Those syscalls have some overhead. I guess the other thing you could do if you wanted to largely avoid OS overhead is to implement your program as a kernel module or device driver. But operating systems do a lot of good things that you don’t want to throw away or live without.",
"parent_id": "8191086",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191121",
"author": "Ewald",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T12:10:59",
"content": "There are a couple of synthesizers that run bare-metal (so without the Linux OS) on a raspberry pi, that way they can get realtime performance, even on older pi’s.",
"parent_id": "8191091",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191127",
"author": "bebop",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T12:25:05",
"content": "You may be able to optimize a tiny portion of your code to be blazingly fast, but more than likely that will make the rest of your code suffer. Compilers today generally do a much better job than any individual person.",
"parent_id": "8191086",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191186",
"author": "PacMan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T16:53:47",
"content": "That’s not true… Parts of the ffmpeg code has been written in assembly by hand… Compilers are okay, but nothing beats a human actually writing the code, in terms of performance… It’s not even close… Even windows and Linux have assembly binaries for low level functions…",
"parent_id": "8191127",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191299",
"author": "Tim Eckel",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T22:16:24",
"content": "I’ve written code in assembly which needed to run faster than the compiled version would allow. And the rest of the code didn’t suffer one bit.The disadvantage would be code readability for future devs. Also, computers are so fast today that most developers would rather just throw more cores or memory at the problem than write parts in assembly or even try to optimize.Compilers these days are quite amazing and efficient. Cores and ram is easy to add with a single click. The art of writing in assembly or optimizing is mostly lost with today’s programmers.I’ll end with this: 0x5F3759DF",
"parent_id": "8191127",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191348",
"author": "bebop",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T01:25:02",
"content": "@Pacman:Nothing beats hand optimizing for a singular target cpu, for the best hands. Optimizing across several targets for the best average? Not so much.@Tim Eckel:Funny you should end with a magic number for the fast inverse square algo, because that one is outdated and slow on modern hardware compared to the instructions available (and also written in C). As you say, you end up with hard-to-read code that may become a drag with the next version of a compiler or hardware.Optimizing code using assembly is still a thing though, but mostly for embedded (singular) targets. If you want something thats portable, it’s just not a go anymore, because while you may make it run faster on your computer, it may actually run slower on other targets.",
"parent_id": "8191127",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191211",
"author": "Visar Elmazi",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T18:10:00",
"content": "Unikernel microvms are a real thing and have significant advantages over containers and full vms. Certainly it’s all abstracted away and the app/program/server developed in higher level language becomes the actual os.",
"parent_id": "8191071",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191446",
"author": "Iman",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T07:45:01",
"content": "BS. When your goal is reliability and performance, there are occasions you don’t want an OS in the way. There are many – mostly industrial – places where this is the case. Just because you can´t think of an advantage does not mean there aren’t any.",
"parent_id": "8191071",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191209",
"author": "CityZen",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T18:04:18",
"content": "If you need to create a system where security is vital, and you have visibility over all the code involved, then this is a big step closer than relying on a massive OS code base.Of course, there’s still a massive amount of code to get through bootup, not to mention microcode as well as various supporting microcontrollers (and indeed the very silicon itself) that is all very opaque.",
"parent_id": "8191036",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191239",
"author": "Travis Hein",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T19:26:30",
"content": "I was thinking the same thing”because I can bragging rights.",
"parent_id": "8191036",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191286",
"author": "poisoncidr",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T21:35:28",
"content": "My first programming language was Hex code which is one step above machine code/binary. The speed and efficiency is unmatched. An assembler is short hand for Hex code. Thus only two steps away from binary and again, unmatched speed and efficiency.",
"parent_id": "8191036",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191343",
"author": "Alex Sadler",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T00:50:16",
"content": "Many years ago I used the Int 10h BIOS plot pixel function to fill the screen. It took about a minute or two. Doing it via hardware took a fraction of a second. So the answer is speed.",
"parent_id": "8191036",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191371",
"author": "Steven Reeves",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T03:05:51",
"content": "It used to be an occasional thing in the 80s. The original King’s Quest on PC had to be booted directly off the disk. You couldn’t start it from DOS. Back then, there were advantages. At best, a PC had 640k RAM. Some might have as low as 248k. By not loading DOS, you save crucial RAM that may make it easier to get the game running on low RAM PCs. Also, compilers were far more primitive then and a good Assembly programmer could produce much faster, better optimized code than a higher level language like C. Again, this has benefits. With no OS overhead and highly optimized Assembler, it’d be easier to get it running well on slow machines, like an 8088 running at 4.77 mhz.But in 2025? None of that applies. Compilers can easily produce better code than the best Assembly programmers. (Not that there are many of those around anymore.) OS overhead is insignificant now. Skipping out on the OS means you have to interface directly with all the hardware, which would be a nightmare. (Especially if you wanted to use the GPU. DirectX and similar exist for a reason.)Really, the only reason to do it is to challenge yourself. It’d certainly make you a better programmer.",
"parent_id": "8191036",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191461",
"author": "WhiteX",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T08:11:48",
"content": "It’s a game of trade-offs. For example the resulting code running on the machine is going to be many orders of magnitude smaller (think Kilobytes, instead of Gigabytes). Benefits of that can vary, for example cost or power required to power the RAM (you don’t need a system with Gigabytes of RAM, early micocomputers which ran games like this has as little as 16KB total memory – the famous Commodore 64 had 64KB of memory, which is less than today’s CPU on-chip cache). Another benefit of small size is less code to secure, no thousands of packages to keep on patching as vulnerabilities get discovered. No code to port when a new OS version comes out because your app was written for the older OS but crashes on the new OS. There are drawbacks too, like trying to get developers who understand bare-metal, or getting AI to code it, time to add features, etc. but you asked about advantages, so these are some examples.",
"parent_id": "8191036",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191585",
"author": "PEBKAC",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T12:48:21",
"content": "Yes, an OS involves some overhead and you can theoretically eek out a few fractions of a percent more performance when working with bare metal.No, nobody should have to write freaking assembly.Just like, work in a real IDE in a high level language of your choice, compile the code, et voila – you have assembly.",
"parent_id": "8191036",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191044",
"author": "dahud",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T05:54:48",
"content": "Getting a bit of a “middle school book report” vibe off this article.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191204",
"author": "Colin",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T17:55:56",
"content": "There’s no way this wasn’t just showing AI the video and instructing it to summarize.",
"parent_id": "8191044",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191339",
"author": "John Elliot V",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T00:33:20",
"content": "Nope. I watched the video through twice and summarized it by hand, letting our readers know what is in the video so they can make a decision about whether to watch it or not. I also looked up some of the things referenced in the video and linked to them.",
"parent_id": "8191204",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191355",
"author": "Inhibit",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T01:45:12",
"content": "I mean, making Al Williams summarize videos for you would be a bit much.",
"parent_id": "8191339",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191114",
"author": "Sammie Gee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T11:52:59",
"content": "I would imagine the next logical step is a VM running on bare metal.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191173",
"author": "Brandon",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T15:50:14",
"content": "I enjoyed the video. It was all putting theory into practice and that, to me, seemed to be the whole point. Not whether you should do something but whether you can do something.It actually inspired me to think about projects that I could create for the bios. Maybe something as simple as a splash screen or maybe something more protective like a low level formatting operation keyed to not knowing my password…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191174",
"author": "m1ke",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T15:50:23",
"content": "“Targeted at the C language, so much too rich for my blood” lol",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191241",
"author": "tr324",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T19:33:26",
"content": "It is ridiculous how slow the implementation ends up being. 3 GHz on modern CPU with all the branching prediction and cashes and it’s literally slower than Arduino Uno with 16 MHz 8 bit CPU.Could as well write it in Python.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191755",
"author": "sftw",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T17:47:35",
"content": "Talk is cheap, send patches.",
"parent_id": "8191241",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191244",
"author": "Chris Soukup",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T19:35:49",
"content": "I started to program games in the early 90s and remember we barely used DOS functions – eventually for loading/saving game-states to file and loading assets which could probably be replaced with BIOS level functions if there wouldn’t be a need to use a FAT filesystem. 99% of all code was talking to hardware.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191438",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T07:23:08",
"content": "And let’s don’t forget using infamous VGA (MCGA) mode 13h in pixelated glory of 320×200 256c.With exception of shareware/freeware games or a few high-quality commercial titles,most DOS games stuck to it throughout the 90s, even if it wasn’t necessary.Instead of using VESA VBE mode 100h in 640×400 256c or mode 6Ah/102h in 800×600 16c..Which all had worked fine with basic 256 KB of VGA memory (and a VBE TSR in DOS memory).Even Deluxe Paint on PC did support Super VGA back then.But no, mode 13h remained the industry standard on DOS for many years to come.I was there in mid-90s and it made me sad, it seemed so backwards to me even by 1995 standards.PC versions of Doom and Wolf3D didn’t look any sophisticated to me, either.I could not understand all the fuss about it, StarFox or Donkey Kong Country on Super NES looked way cooler to me.Man, this is so frustating, I think, considering that Windows 3.xor Macintosh desktop games all ran on a 640×480 desktop resolution at same time.Sigh! If only 640×480 256c would have been popular on DOS, at least..Or normal VGA (planar) in 640×480 16c, at the very least. Maybe using good dithering to simulate more colors.Both modes could be displayed just fine on any standard VGA monitor or an notebook screen!Not a few budget VGA cards such as ET-4000AX, OAK OTI-77 or Trident 8900D etc had 512 KB of VGA memory, also.So hardware wise, it was no issue loading UniVESA or UniVBE here (they may had refused to load on 256 KB cards).An average 486DX2-66 to Pentium 90 PC was good enough to handle it, too.",
"parent_id": "8191244",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191983",
"author": "alanrcam",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T02:34:18",
"content": "Thank you for for triggering my personal WayBack Machine.In this case, reminding me of “Programmers Guide To EGA and VGA”, by Richard Ferraro (1988).No available on the Internet Archive, at:https://archive.org/details/programmersguidetotheegavgaandsupervgacardsbyrichardf.ferraro19943rdedition",
"parent_id": "8191438",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191272",
"author": "ialonepossessthetruth",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T20:34:42",
"content": "Deep breath time. It’s aprojectnot aproduct.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191301",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T22:23:19",
"content": "Back in the day of 16-Bit PCs, this type of game would have been a “PC Booter” game.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191336",
"author": "Mr Owl",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T00:24:21",
"content": "This brings back memories, from the good old assembly programming on the Amiga, back in the day 😋",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191533",
"author": "Robert van der Tuuk",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T10:19:03",
"content": "I so happen to have taken up this challenge too, only i am staying in 16bit mode i8086 and doing something simpler then a full on game",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191728",
"author": "forced",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T16:55:42",
"content": "“space game” = Zaxxon",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191749",
"author": "hartl",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T17:20:19",
"content": "“… Without An Operating System”Wait a minute, that’s cheating. UEFI IS an operating system, not just a boot loader.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191878",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T23:04:16",
"content": "Some intel chipsets ran Minix 3 operating system, too.Firmware has become quite big these days. ;)Btw, some early PCs and computers had amonitorprogram, too.The ct-86 computer had a monitor instead of an ordinary BIOS, I think.Sharp MZ-80K had a monitor, too.It allowed loading programs from datasette, for example.Or manipulating memory cells, executing code.A “monitor” program basically was a compact hardware initialization program/a boot loader with extras (debugger, hex editor, diagnostic tool etc).Like a very limited firmware, so to say.Sometimes it had core functions applications can use.In a PC, BIOS routines could be called by applications, for example.Though a BIOS was more like a kernal for the hardware, function wise.That’s why CP/M had a BIOS component, too, it was the HAL.The BASIC interpreter of home computers served as acommand line/monitor/hex editor/debugger, too.The C64 ROM, for example, consisted of BASIC and the C64 Kernal.The Kernal was like an miniature OS or Basic I/O System (BIOS), too.To provide an software interface to the hardware.Then there are two boot loaders, basically.The bootloader of the PC firmware and the boot loader of the OS.On a traditional PC, the x86 CPU was hardcoded to load code from a specific memory region.Which loaded BIOS. The BIOS in turn did inits/checks hardware and boot load the boot loader stored in MBR (floppy, hard disk etc).Say, the boot loader of DOS.DOS itself then might have acted as a boot loader to Windows 9x’s WIN.COM, for example.Which in turn did boot load the Windows kernal.. Or something like that.Anyhow. Whatever. The lines get blurred quite often sometimes..",
"parent_id": "8191749",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191893",
"author": "Fruitmaniac",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T23:41:33",
"content": "C64 games executed without any OS help. Graphics were mapped directly to memory and input was handled my CPU interrupts. Or at least that’s how I remember it. It was 40 years ago.",
"parent_id": "8191878",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191892",
"author": "Fruitmaniac",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T23:36:18",
"content": "I used to code games in 6502 assembly on my C64 and I never thought of it as coding without an operating system but I guess it was and that’s pretty cool.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,403.21803
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/10/your-llm-wont-stop-lying-any-time-soon/
|
Your LLM Won’t Stop Lying Any Time Soon
|
Tyler August
|
[
"Artificial Intelligence"
] |
[
"ai",
"ChatGPT",
"LLM",
"machine hallucination"
] |
Researchers call it “hallucination”; you might more accurately refer to it as confabulation, hornswaggle, hogwash, or just plain BS. Anyone who has used an LLM has encountered it; some people seem to find it behind every prompt, while others dismiss it as an occasional annoyance, but nobody claims it doesn’t happen. A
recent paper by researchers at OpenAI
(PDF) tries to drill down a bit deeper into just why that happens, and if anything can be done.
Spoiler alert: not really. Not unless we completely re-think the way we’re training these models, anyway. The analogy used in the conclusion is to an undergraduate in an exam room. Every right answer is going to get a point, but wrong answers aren’t penalized– so why the heck
not
guess? You might not pass an exam that way going in blind, but if you have studied (i.e., sucked up the entire internet without permission for training data) then you might get a few extra points. For an LLM’s training, like a student’s final grade, every point scored on the exam is a good point.
The problem is that if you reward “I don’t know” in training, you may eventually produce a degenerate model that responds to every prompt with “IDK”. Technically, that’s true– the model is a stochastic mechanism; it doesn’t “know” anything. It’s also completely useless. Unlike some other studies, however, the authors do not conclude that so-called hallucinations are an inevitable result of the stochastic nature of LLMs.
While that may be true, they point out it’s only the case for “base models”– pure LLMs. If you wrap the LLM with a “dumb” program able to parse information into a calculator, for example, suddenly the blasted thing can pretend to count. (That’s how undergrads do it these days, too.) You can also provide the LLM with a cheat-sheet of facts to reference instead of hallucinating; it sounds like what’s being proposed is a hybrid between an LLM and the sort of expert system you used to use Wolfram Alpha to access. (
A combo we’ve covered before
.)
In that case, however, some skeptics might wonder why bother with the LLM at all, if the knowledge in the expert system is “good enough.” (Having seen one AI boom before, we can say with the judgement of history that the knowledge in an expert system isn’t good enough often enough to make many viable products.)
Unfortunately, that “easy” solution runs back into the issue of grading: if you want your model to do well on the scoreboards and beat ChatGPT or DeepSeek at popular benchmarks, there’s a certain amount of “teaching to the test” involved, and a model that occasionally makes stuff up will apparently do better on the benchmarks than one that refuses to guess. The obvious solution, as the authors propose, is changing the benchmarks.
If you’re interested in AI (and who isn’t, these days?), the paper makes an interesting, read. Interesting if, perhaps disheartening if you were hoping the LLMs would graduate from their
eternal internship
any time soon.
Via
ComputerWorld,
by way of
whereisyouredat
.
| 46
| 17
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8191005",
"author": "moo",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T03:32:23",
"content": "pfff. even if somehow it’s a lack of negative examples like they claim, there’s an inherent class imbalance. you’re going to give it negative examples of every fact it doesn’t know? nope.i expect we’ll find, in the end, that using LLMs for “general” purposes is inherently like trying to cram everything you know into the language center of your brain, in hopes that it can do your thinking for you.and “hallucination” is a perfectly good term because the rest of those imply some kind of intent, which LLM does not possess. though i expect running around calling it “bullshit” makes you sound a lot cooler on bluesky.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191052",
"author": "M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T06:05:11",
"content": "That “class imbalance” is what’s known as out-of-distribution data, and has been a known problem with neural networks for 30 years.",
"parent_id": "8191005",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191053",
"author": "M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T06:05:42",
"content": "As of a conference I attended last year, still absolutely nothing approaching a solution.",
"parent_id": "8191052",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191148",
"author": "Ian",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T14:07:46",
"content": "“hallucination” is not a good word, and not all of us researchers are willing to use it.(Former researcher in my case. I refuse to even list that grad degree on my resume anymore with what that field has become)It implies far too much.Don’t anthropomorphize, because the normal people don’t understand the distinction.Those are lies for marketing/executives to tell, not for any real discussion.As long as these systems are intended to be used by non-expert, or without supervision, they are not useful if they allow incorrect answers.LLMs are toys, not tools, and they are unlikely to ever be more because of how they work at a fundamental level.Right now we are using a screwdriver as a hammer.You might be able to get it to work if you swing it hard enough, but eventually it is just going to break.And if you watched processionals smashing nails into boards using screwdrivers, you should start asking some deep questions.",
"parent_id": "8191005",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191191",
"author": "Reg",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T17:07:23",
"content": "LLMs can’t pass Turing’s halting theorem. Case closed. They are incapable of avoiding bias from ignorance or human frailty. Rigorous proofs help, but the ignorance factor makes just a crappy search engine.",
"parent_id": "8191148",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191859",
"author": "Nemanja Ignjatovic",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T22:13:12",
"content": "They are very useful as tools, even in their flawed state. There isn’t any serious programmer today, that is not using them in some form at least (I’m not talking about “juniors that vibe code”).If you see one not using them, you should start asking some deep questions.",
"parent_id": "8191148",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192137",
"author": "zamorano",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:43:47",
"content": "I’d argue that as search engine it is a big step up from Google – at least ChatGPT is, because I can explain to it what I want instead of trying out different search terms, and it can derive the essential meaning of my question and relate it to information it gathered from multiple sources. And also I can easily refine the question to get a more specific answer or ask for additional details. Contrast that to Google where I need to carefully formulate the query terms, especially if one of my keywords matches a popular unrelated topic – and if my topic of interest is obscure I’ll probably get results that have nothing to do with what I asked.So it’s either unreliable information that needs checking or wading through unrelated search results until I find something that resembles what I want and I probably also need to check it.",
"parent_id": "8191148",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191021",
"author": "Gravis",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T04:33:22",
"content": "You know, I usually believe Hackaday but I just asked ChatGPT and it denies these accusations and says it was fixed last year. So, should I trust an AI that told me it can’t lie (it even pinky promised!) or should I trust some meatbag makingblack-and-whiteassertions aboutallLLMs? ;)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191051",
"author": "M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T06:03:55",
"content": "You should ask sam altman why GPT5 took so long.",
"parent_id": "8191021",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191024",
"author": "SETH",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T04:41:26",
"content": "Look, hallucinations and dishonesty are qualities of the LLM itself. Token prediction is not sentience. Personification is baggage to understanding an LLM formally.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191050",
"author": "M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T06:03:14",
"content": "Unfortunately, many AI researchers are “high on their own supply.” Though that’s nothing new for a field driven by science fiction.",
"parent_id": "8191024",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191025",
"author": "SETH",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T04:47:09",
"content": "On the stochastic quality of LLM. Try turning the temperature setting to 0, and LLM behave deterministically. Same prompts generate same response every time. I use 0 and sometimes 1, but a setting of 2 always ends up less coherent compared.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191049",
"author": "M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T06:01:53",
"content": "Generating the same output every time doesn’t fix anything. It’s the same as setting a constant seed. You’ll get the same result every time, but that result will still be a halucination just as often.",
"parent_id": "8191025",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191093",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T09:07:55",
"content": "Yep, because the training behind the thing is based on statistical evidence – it’s random stuff thrown in with the computer given a task of “generate the most likely path through this forest of data”.If you would filter the data somehow to reduce the probability of faulty answers, that could help, but that in turn makes the system a giant Expert System, or in the end, a giant Mechanical Turk: the intelligence behind it is from people, not the program.There is a chance that if you loop the LLM back on itself and allow the model to forget the less likely stuff, it would converge onto something sensible even with the model temperature up high. There’s some evidence that human brains do that: they teeter on the “edge of chaos” with the neural network getting excited and making random noise, and then calming back down for stable output, repeating over and over in cycles. With the wrong answers eliminated or suppressed through repeated training, it’s going to fall back to similar patterns each time, which is hopefully the correct answer.But, to do that, the output has to be tested against feedback from outside to see if the result is sensible or just another hallucination, which forms the basis of reinforcement learning. With that, the intelligence seems to be in the process of re-iteration and continuous re-training, which is going to take a heck of a lot of processing power.",
"parent_id": "8191049",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191196",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T17:19:03",
"content": "How do you debug the thing?I mean the human mind of course.The ‘AI’ is much simpler case, but still impossible…Trace the bad behavior back to training data?Have to do ‘debug builds’ of AI datasets…Would be huge, tracing every iteration on every weight on every node back.Then AI would have to run in debug mode, where the garbage collector or object destructor writes to logs.And you’d end up with a heat map of all the training data that went into the F-up, not really useful.I doubt AI training is deterministic…Exact same training data, different results, because giant race condition.",
"parent_id": "8191093",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192350",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T15:39:42",
"content": "I mean the human mind of course.You send it to Siberia with a shovel and a wind-up alarm clock. If it comes back, it has at least learnt its lesson not to question your authority.",
"parent_id": "8191196",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191074",
"author": "cpldcpu",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T07:07:46",
"content": "or maybe not:https://thinkingmachines.ai/blog/defeating-nondeterminism-in-llm-inference/",
"parent_id": "8191025",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191243",
"author": "SETH",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T19:34:47",
"content": "Try it yourself in Ollama. A temperature of 0 will result in determinstic results for any model, same prompt results in same response. This is useful to understand what prompts are actually doing, and compare results.The PRNG which LLM uses is seeded identically in this case. A high temperature setting uses a more stochastic state for the PRNG. This is by design, probably more useful during training.",
"parent_id": "8191074",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191868",
"author": "Nemanja Ignjatovic",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T22:31:44",
"content": "Not quite true. To make Mistral deterministic, you need to set few parameters to zero, not only temperature.I aslo thought tenperature is enough, and I’ve found out it’s not after spending almost an hour of debugging nonexistent bug.Funny thing, if I used LLM to check my hypothesis, i wouldn’t waste my time on debugging. Yeah, LLM’s are quite useful tools. You just need to know thier limits (which are not very high)",
"parent_id": "8191243",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192201",
"author": "M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T11:17:57",
"content": "Deterministic results doesn’t mean no hallucinations. It just means the same hallucination every time.",
"parent_id": "8191243",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191865",
"author": "Nemanja Ignjatovic",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T22:22:19",
"content": "I don’t see why would anyone go above (recommended) 0.7. I see the reasons to go bellow. 0.1 is quite enough for constant semantically same answers, 0.0 only makes them use exact words, and I can’t see a lot of scenario where that is a useful thing. But going to 1 or 2 – I really don understand, unless you are playing with it, and you need it to be “creative” (make it pick a dubious words that he needs to continue from).",
"parent_id": "8191025",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191039",
"author": "Jdams",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T05:45:33",
"content": "I always figured it was just matching what people on the internet do. For example on reddit, you will always see someone come in forcefully and say they are an expert in something and do it every day and they give a seemingly plausible explanation for some question. But then someone replies to that person saying that they too are an expert in the field and no that’s not at all the explanation, then providing their own explanation that is completely incompatible with the previous one. At least one of them is lying and just making up their credentials. Maybe even both are. But they both seemed plausible. I blamed the hallucinations on the one that was lying.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191056",
"author": "M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T06:10:13",
"content": "It’s a perfect tool for producing something that “feels” like the correct response. It’s confident when giving and answer, because that’s how people who ARE authorities in the field speak. It’s apologetic when told it’s wrong, because that’s how people shown to be full of shit act. Texture, color, but still a cheap knockoff.",
"parent_id": "8191039",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191043",
"author": "Julianne",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T05:54:12",
"content": "I always feel like today’s LLMs are only “part” of an artificial intelligence, missing a key step ,like a critical factor, which would have it question itself. That’s what a sane person does at least, when trying to come up with something intelligent to say, form some sort of statement but before blurting it out, doing some internal fact checking. Maybe a LLM needs to fact check itself before delivering an answer.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191046",
"author": "M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T06:00:22",
"content": "Pretty much the story of AI over the last 60 years. It’s been a neverending cycle of jubilant and shocked disappointment at solutions that fall short.",
"parent_id": "8191043",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191047",
"author": "M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T06:00:49",
"content": "jubilance*",
"parent_id": "8191046",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191045",
"author": "M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T05:59:01",
"content": "There’s a deeper problem here in that neural networksin generaldon’t handle out-of-distribution data well. At all. It’s a well known problem (like “30 years” well known) but there’s nothing you can really of about it. Neural networks can only be shaped by what’s in the dataset and this is fundamentally about what’s not in the dataset, you’re kinda screwed. The best workaround has been to solve things on a case-by-case basis by putting each new thing your model trips over in the wild into the next batch of training data, and retaining everything from scratch (because Catastrophic Forgetting is still an issue too).And so it’s not surprising to see this pop up in LLMs, which are just a fancy neural network. Hallucinations are fundamentally products of probability and approximation and don’t exist in the training set, so they can’t be trained out.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191058",
"author": "M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T06:12:43",
"content": "This whole article can be summarized as “turns out we do need neurosymbolic AI, actually. those guys were right all along and the pure-connectionists were wrong. oops.”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191064",
"author": "Bobtato",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T06:27:07",
"content": "New ideas are often overhyped, and the hype is followed by a proportionate backlash. The actual usefulness comes afterbothphases; so objective discussions like this are a valuable shortcut to Gartner’s “plateau of productivity”. And I do think LLMs will end up having real uses, just like XML or IoT or even (to a tiny extent) blockchain.But.The material stakes here are so unprecedented, I think it might bephysically dangerousto treat it like just another hype cycle. Literally a third of the US stock market is now staked on the bet that LLMs will somehow attract trillions of dollars of revenue in the next few years, and we’re still stroking our chins about whether it’spossiblefor this technology to really deliver onanythingthat it’s already been sold for.So, yes it’s interesting to ponder if LLMs can theoretically answer questions some day. But a more relevant title would be “is there any chance that the current foundation of Earth’s economy is even a real thing?” Like, let’s not bury the lede.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191066",
"author": "Alex",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T06:46:32",
"content": "We all have “hallucinations”. E.g. “optical illusions”. It’s a general problem with any sufficiently complex adaptive system. When a system adapts, it must make decisions, and kiss off any hope of those decisions always being “right”. After all, if they were “right”, no adaptation is required.Since LLMs are a huge gob of hill-climbing, multiply-add gizmos, their way of screwing up is different from how, say, our nervous systems screw up. Our nervous systems are built from dissimilar gizmos. Same for economies, weather, PIDs … you name it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191079",
"author": "alialiali",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T07:37:53",
"content": "One issue is of terminology.“Hallucination” is very well defined in biology and LLMs certainly don’t do that.Hallucinations are a sensory experience that appears to be external and objective. I.e. someone expediting a true hallucination would believe that everyone else is also experiencing it.But LLMs have no experiences and no sensorium.Confabulation the creation of fleetingly held ideas to fill a void. LLMs seem to do this often.Delusions are a fixed belief held to be true despite clear evidence to the contrary. This LLMs can do but is rarer and usually a training issue.Since what LLMs predominantly seems to be doing is confabulation the solution ought to be better fact storage. This is the neurological analogue to what causes confabulation in humans.It seems to me that confabulation is worst on LLMs when it’s not in a deep research mode where it explicitly seems information before making claims.",
"parent_id": "8191066",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191147",
"author": "William Payne",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T14:03:19",
"content": "do lllms use llvm and clang?AI OverviewYes, Large Language Models (LLMs) and other advancedsoftware projects often leverage components of theLLVM (Low-Level Virtual Machine) project, including Clang.LLVM is a collection of modular and reusable compiler andtoolchain technologies. It provides a robust infrastructurefor building compilers, optimizers, and code generation tools.Clang is a C, C++, Objective-C, and Objective-C++frontend for LLVM. It acts as a compiler for theselanguages, translating source code into LLVMIntermediate Representation (IR), which can then beoptimized and compiled into machine code by theLLVM backend. Many sophisticated software systems,including those that might incorporate or be influencedby LLMs, benefit from the advanced compilation andoptimization capabilities offered by LLVM and Clang. Forexample, systems requiring high-performance codegeneration, or those that integrate with C/C++components, often utilize Clang as their compilerand rely on the LLVM infrastructure for optimizationand target-specific code generation.",
"parent_id": "8191079",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191108",
"author": "vazhnov",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T11:26:03",
"content": "What “BS” is?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191261",
"author": "Truth",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T20:12:47",
"content": "Male Bovine Excrement.",
"parent_id": "8191108",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191110",
"author": "rewolff",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T11:34:06",
"content": "The problem isn’t with that IDK is penalized. The problem is that to check if your LLM is doing good, you have a bunch of people grade the answers. Those people will think that “march 20, 2021” is a valid answer to “when was SUSE 7.1 released?”: They simply don’t know the answer, and anything that seems like a valid answer in the right ballpark will be graded as “good”.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191111",
"author": "pelrun",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T11:34:59",
"content": "We don’t really know how to consistently teach humans to not lie and cheat, so how are we supposed to do it with LLM’s?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192139",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:48:00",
"content": "Yeah the entire point was to make it less computer-like and more human-like. Also if “being wrong” “making shit up” and “lying” are all hallucinations, why did I ever spend money on psychedelics?We discover that the human condition isn’t exclusive to humans, it has a deeper and more fundamental basis.",
"parent_id": "8191111",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191171",
"author": "Luddite",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T15:48:39",
"content": "Garbage in, garbage out",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191263",
"author": "Truth",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T20:17:21",
"content": "It is only worse now that the out pipe is being fed directly into the in pipe. Percentage wise there is less actual human knowledge in relation to AI generated hallucinations being fed into the in pipe.",
"parent_id": "8191171",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191260",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T20:12:28",
"content": "The current models are trained on existing text and conversation, and therefore really only recognize the plausibility of sentences. They’re completely isolated from the reasoning, researching, or experience that led the participants to say what they said. That model will never overcome a tendency to BS.The other weakness is that most of these models, when they are training they are in a very different mode than when they are performing. So they have a distinct handicap about learning from experiences.Something with a similar level of mathematical complexity, but with continuous training and focused on experiences instead of language might yield very different results. Just the ability to do a thing and learn from its result will create the concept of honesty. It’ll take some time but I’d be surprised if people don’t try it. Hard to state an upper limit for what’s possible tomorrow.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191805",
"author": "Tyler August",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T19:42:50",
"content": "I think Microsoft’s Tay demonstrated the risks of continuous training on something exposed to the internet.",
"parent_id": "8191260",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191307",
"author": "Daniel Scott Matthews",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T22:37:23",
"content": "LLMs are almost as bad as humans, the problem is that the best of them have an IQ around 120 so most people can’t win an argument with them, get them to admit the truth or acknowledge anomalies, paradoxes, contradictions, and “alignment” can actually make an AI worse. The smaller versions of Deepseek will go insane if you bypass their blocks and push them into certain territory.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192147",
"author": "zamorano",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:58:06",
"content": "Right! It’s not only AI that generates slop, humans do it in large quantities too.Look at AI generated music, it’s usually a bland and unimaginative copy of stuff we’ve heard a thousand times before in other songs. But popular music, as generated by humans, is like that too. I’m convinced that soon people will start labelling such human-made music as similar to AI slop, and it will hopefully be an insult rather than a compliment.",
"parent_id": "8191307",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192354",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T15:54:17",
"content": "popular music, as generated by humans…has been generated by algorithms since forever. There’s whole teams of record label people whose job is to make up pop songs according to trends and formulas of what is popular, and find new “talents” to perform them.It is slop. Prime example, 1980’s Italo Disco:https://genius.com/Clio-ita-faces-lyrics",
"parent_id": "8192147",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8192054",
"author": "CityZen",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T04:26:14",
"content": "What about just having the AI tell you when it’s guessing? Or have it give you a reliability rating for its answers? Seems like that would solve a lot of issues.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192075",
"author": "pelrun",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T05:41:24",
"content": "If the original answer is a lie, why would that rating be honest?",
"parent_id": "8192054",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
}
] | 1,760,371,403.306913
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/07/tips-for-c-programming-from-nic-barker/
|
Tips For C Programming From Nic Barker
|
John Elliot V
|
[
"Software Development"
] |
[
"c programming",
"tips"
] |
If you’re going to be a hacker, learning C is a rite of passage. If you don’t have much experience with C, or if your experience is out of date, you very well may benefit from hearing [Nic Barker] explain
tips for C programming
.
In his introduction he notes that C, invented in the 70s by
Dennis Ritchie
, is now more than 50 years old. This old language still appears in lists of the
most popular languages
, although admittedly not at the top!
He notes that the major versions of C, named for the year they were released, are: C89, C99, C11, and C23. His recommendation is C99 because it has some features he doesn’t want to live without, particularly scoped variables and initializing structs with named members using designated initializers. Also C89 is plagued with non-standard integer types, and this is fixed by stdint.h in C99. Other niceties of C99 include compound literals and // for single-line comments.
He recommends the use of clang arguments -std=c99 to enable C99, -Wall to enable all warnings, and -Werror to treat warnings as errors, then he explains the Unity Build where you simply include all of your module files from your main.c file.
It’s stressed that printf debugging is not the way to go in C and that you definitely want to be using a debugger. To elaborate on this point he explains what a segfault is and how they happen.
He goes on to explain memory corruption and how ASAN (short for Address Sanitisation) can help you find when it happens. Then he covers C’s support for arrays and strings, which is, admittedly, not very much! He shows you that it’s pretty easy to make your own array and string types though, potentially supporting slices as well.
Finally he explains how to use arenas for memory allocation and management for static, function, and task related memory.
| 44
| 13
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8189074",
"author": "Volker Birk",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T02:36:19",
"content": "Or you enable C17. Or C23, the actual version. C99 is history.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189240",
"author": "Sword",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T09:12:20",
"content": "Still used a lot actually. rtl_433 is written in C99",
"parent_id": "8189074",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189663",
"author": "Reini Urban",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T20:23:26",
"content": "If C11 didn’t enable unicode spoofing attacks it would be good idea. But with this you can’t get external contributions.",
"parent_id": "8189074",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189089",
"author": "Mark Topham",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T03:08:29",
"content": "Who?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189116",
"author": "Andrew",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T04:36:26",
"content": "You know, Nic Barker. He writes about C programming and other technical stuff.Mark Topham writes songs for Steps, a popular beat combo from the UK.",
"parent_id": "8189089",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189270",
"author": "70sjukebox",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T10:08:43",
"content": "Int Steps[] = {5,6,7,8};",
"parent_id": "8189116",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189349",
"author": "Mark Topham",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T13:18:59",
"content": "Mark Topham writes a lot of songs.Mark Topham writes Unix books.Etc…None of which are me. The name is common enough I’ve almost run across myself directly once or twice.I was thinking of buying a few samples of various things made/written by Mark Topham and shoving them on a bookshelf just to see if it would trigger people; but people would misunderstand. (Thinking I’d claim authorship, instead, it just breaks first impressions and assumptions).I usually do web development, electronics, photography [nature, event, or astrophotography].Looks like this morning I’ll be a Network Engineer as I try and diagnose my wifi network so I don’t have to drive into the office.",
"parent_id": "8189116",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189389",
"author": "Oracles",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T15:04:12",
"content": "“Looks like this morning I’ll be a Network Engineer”So, are you going to write a song or a book about it? 😁",
"parent_id": "8189349",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189589",
"author": "wheels",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T18:38:14",
"content": "I have a couple of cookbooks written by an author who shares my first, middle, and last names. Probably close to 20 years ago, I did a series of web searches on variants of my name, intending to write a “composite autobiography” for my blog, complete with links to the individuals whose backgrounds I was going to borrow. I never did write the bio, but I thought the most amusing career someone sharing my name had was “ice-skating illusionist.”",
"parent_id": "8189349",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189369",
"author": "Mr. Taco",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T14:32:42",
"content": "Lol",
"parent_id": "8189116",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189124",
"author": "ialonepossessthetruth",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T05:01:30",
"content": "What is a good program project for a C learner? First semester student or self teacher. Be advised that if you say “Hello World” I will invokekanly.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189150",
"author": "Mr T",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T06:07:56",
"content": "I often ask people to calculate a Fibonacci series using four different methods described in the comments shown below from my reference solution. It teaches them something about recursion and about runtime optimisations and how you can use approximations if you do not need precision, so not just C but also good programming practice. Apologies already for the expected presentation mess due to Hackaday formatting.// 1: Recursively where Fib(N) = Fib(N-1) + Fib(N-2) N ≤ 2; Fib(1) = 1; Fib(0) = 0// This method scales badly as each calculation of Fib(N) calls itself recursively at every step// and thus grows exponentially// Fn(N) is the number of calls required to calculate Fib(N):// Fn(0) 1 Fn(1) 1// Fn(2) 3 Fn(3) 5// Fn(4) 9 Fn(5) 15// Fn(6) 25 Fn(7) 41// Fn(8) 67 Fn(9) 108// Fn(N) ≈ 21.6^N Fn(90) ≈ 510^18// The runtime of the current implementation is somewhat saved by optimisation of tail recursion//// 2: Linear progression of the above formula using temporary variables to store Fib(N-1) and Fib(N-2),// requires N steps to calculate Fib(N)//// 3: Recursive variant of the progression with N calls of the routine to calculate Fib(N)//// 4: Calculates Fib(N) as ⎣ Phi^N / √5 + ½ ⎦ where Phi is the Golden Ratio (1 + √5)/2",
"parent_id": "8189124",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189128",
"author": "ewlie",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T05:21:15",
"content": "Great video, the only bit that would not work for me is the arena concept. It assumes large amounts of ram is available and that the scope is open for a long time. I can see it working for documents as he suggests.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189327",
"author": "kuro68k",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T12:18:39",
"content": "I dunno, I only skimmed most of it but the “unity build” idea is terrible. Maybe he doesn’t know about static or why it is used.",
"parent_id": "8189128",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189475",
"author": "Wallace Owen",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T16:38:18",
"content": "It can save a lot of compile time and therefore build time: If you have 60 separate compilation units and there’s a lot of the same header files imported, the C preprocessor runs 60 times as often. Building from a single .c file that #includes the remaining source files can very much decrease your build times.",
"parent_id": "8189327",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189602",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T18:55:51",
"content": "amdahl’s law. 60 times nothing is nothing. can’t improve on nothing.you’re thinking of C++ where parsing the header files takes wall time. in C, it’s not a consideration. except in rare / contrived cases, parsing header files is effectively free in C.if you’re talking about comple-time, it’s actually potentially the opposite. one of the advantages of unity build is exposing opportunities for the inliner, which means it’s actually doing more work. unlike header files, inlining does often contribute meaningfully to compile time, because it makes bigger functions and a lot of optimizer and codegen steps degrade to O(n^2) in the size of the function (which is a big part of why C++ header files are so slow)",
"parent_id": "8189475",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189132",
"author": "SETH",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T05:28:27",
"content": "C99 is a good choice it is simple and good to learn with can still be used for modern software. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend newer versions unless you know what you are doing, at which point you don’t need my advice.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189159",
"author": "Tom G",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T06:52:02",
"content": "Far too manythinkthey know what they are doing. Mostdon’tunderstand thesubtlepitfalls waiting to catch you out. Doubly so in multicore/processor systems.For example, consider that Hans Boehm had toforciblypoint out to experts that you couldn’t write a threading library in C. Yes,expertshad forgotten some of the fundamentals, and had deluded themselves that they could write threading libraries in C.That prodded the standards committees into inventing the memory model, something that other languages had known was necessary almost 25 years (a quarter of a century) earlier!I’m sceptical whether most C programmers understand the memory model and use it correctly.Moral: use a modern language for most purposes, leaving C forsmallprograms.",
"parent_id": "8189132",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189186",
"author": "Lucian J",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T07:45:30",
"content": "Small programs like the Linux kernel and most of the userland?",
"parent_id": "8189159",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189250",
"author": "John Elliot V",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T09:38:51",
"content": "With modern coding practices you don’t need tothink, but rather follow a set of precise guidelines. The worst cases of spaghetti code are usually written byindependent thinkerprogrammers, who though they are too smart to do as they’re told.",
"parent_id": "8189159",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189326",
"author": "Tom G",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T12:14:44",
"content": "Nice phrases, but there are problems when they encounter The Real World.“Cargo cult programmers” follow guidelines as they understand them.Thereasonsfor guidelines need to bevisibleand to beunderstood, in order to avoid cargo cult programming.Guidelines are hints and tips based on presumptions. Guidelines cannot be comprehensive, and their quality strongly depends on the person writing the guidelines, how well they can understand their audience, and the application’s existing codebase. A language like C exacerbates those problems.Thinking isalwaysnecessary; there is no substitute.Given two imperfect tools/products, one of which makes demonstrably unrealistic presumptions about how it will be used, and one of which prevents/avoids well known misuses, which tool should a responsible engineer choose?",
"parent_id": "8189250",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189361",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T13:52:28",
"content": "Spaghetti code is not a symptom of thinking, it’s a symptom of a lack of planning. You ad-hoc your way through the problem and then either run out of time, money, or the will to do it properly. This is the real sin of “smart programmers”, because they tend to think as they go rather than think ahead, because they’re smart enough to do that.The not-so-smart programmers who follow the guidelines are better in the sense that if there’s no guidelines and no canned solutions, they just can’t do it. You get no output, but at least it’s not terrible.",
"parent_id": "8189250",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190815",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T18:30:58",
"content": "Programming is easy.Systems analysis is hard.Many programmers will do systems analysis by building a throwaway prototype.But PHBs are dumb AF.Cookbook programmers need all the hard work done for them.They’re always shit testers too.",
"parent_id": "8189361",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189357",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T13:46:36",
"content": "Can you elaborate? When was this, and what was the problem?",
"parent_id": "8189159",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189408",
"author": "pelrun",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T15:28:11",
"content": "Looks like this is what they’re referring to:https://www.hboehm.info/misc_slides/pldi05_threads.pdfIt just identifies a a subtle issue for multithreading that means it’s impossible for C99 to implementfullycorrect concurrent access to shared memory without some extra language features. Anything that synchronizes that access completely avoids the issue though, and Boehm actually commends pthread for how close it gets to full correctness.This isn’t a problem for 99% of developers, and it’s not like the world has imploded because of it. At worst, some people need to add extra thread synchronization that “might” not have been necessary with a different language (and it’s not like there’s a long list of alternatives listed.)This is also from twenty years ago. So before C11 came out.",
"parent_id": "8189357",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189492",
"author": "Tom G",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T16:56:44",
"content": "That is indeed the specific issue.If concurrent memory access isn’t “fully correct”, then it is incorrect. Maybe 99% of programmers don’t notice an incorrect result, or are content to reboot the application/system, but not all of us are in that position. Some of us write life critical programs.Later versions of C have addressed the problem, but the standards committee members (?experts?) should have noticed the problem decades earlier and corrected the omission.For those that fancy themselves expert C programmers, there’s always the drolly amusing C++ FQA to calibrate their beliefhttps://yosefk.com/c++fqa/. Many of the infelicities noted for C++ are equally valid in C.",
"parent_id": "8189408",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189608",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T19:07:06",
"content": "Tom G – The “problem” isn’t that the result isn’t correct but rather that the way the programmer specified the process to the compiler didn’t exactly correspond to a certain model of how they could have specified the process to the compiler. There are more expressive ways to deal with assumptions about memory models than pre-C11 standard C, but the old fashioned way to do it was provably correct too (albeit less portable). I’ve been doing multiprocessor programming in C since 1997, and have specifically confronted this concept of ‘provably correct’. The fact of the matter is that even with all of the expressive capability of C11, you should only really be using “seq_cst”. The other memory models are kind of “neato”, but if you are doing code where the optimizations they enable are more than zero then you really should rethink your algorithm to minimize shared data in the first place.If I was writing a pthread implementation from scratch using the C11 atomic interface, maybe the new expressive power would be worth something. But the guy writing pthreads has always cared about the specific target platform in detail, and that hasn’t changed in the 30 years of pthreads.Before C11, we just used the guarantees compiler and hardware vendors gave us, and we were perfectly able to produce provably-correct code. In fact, C11’s model is very closely derived from a proprietary interface that Intel invented and gcc supported since long before 2011.",
"parent_id": "8189408",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189626",
"author": "Tom G",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T19:36:20",
"content": "Greg A…Yes, of course parallel processing was done in C long ago. The point is that it relied behaviourbeyondthat specified in the C standards.The original C “spec” explicitly stated that multithreading/multicore and similar was outside the scope of the language and was a library issue. And didn’t provide guaranteed behaviour that would allow the library to be written in C.The consequence is that the libraries had to rely on the behaviour of a specific compiler for a specific processor.“Experts” never got around to fixing that, “experts” forgot about it, hence Boehm’s having to rub their noses in it.That repeated itself when Erwin Ruh forced the C++ committee to realise they were creating a language where a valid conforming program could never finish being compiled. Stunning. Still true!If the people creating the language can’t understand it, what chance do mere mortals have?!The language becomes part of the problem, not part of the solution.",
"parent_id": "8189408",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189724",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T22:04:32",
"content": "Tom G – pthreads has always been written in C, just with target dependencies. Many things are written in C with target dependencies. That’s both a strength and a weakness of C. The standards committee has made many mistakes over the years but they are definitely all well aware of the benefits and drawbacks of leaving things undefined so that the C language can be used in a broad diversity of ways.Frankly, i don’t even think you disagree with their judgement on this matter. I think you’re just looking for reasons to disapprove. I think you’re trying to lay the foundations for an ad hominem attack against the C committee’s decisions in general based on a decision that they waffled on after 20 years. I don’t believe you truly understand or care about this decision. Among people who actually use C for multiprocessing systems, every step of the evolution has looked pretty sensible, if frustrating at some moments.Have you ever used any of these features you’re today talking about? Have you ever used target-specific APIs for multi-processing, have you ever looked in a hardware architecture manual or target ABI manual to find out answers to questions you wish had been answered in the C standard? Have you ever reviewed parallel code for correctness? Ever used SYSV IPC, pthreads, openmp, or the old __sync_xxx builtins? Ever waded into the morass of memory access models that represent the modern C and C++ approach to reducing synchronization overhead while ensuring correctness?",
"parent_id": "8189408",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189826",
"author": "pelrun",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T02:20:37",
"content": "If concurrent memory access isn’t “fully correct”, then it is incorrectOk, now it’s clear that either you didn’t understand the issue completely or you are deliberately misunderstanding it in order to bolster a straw man attack against C. C isn’t Goliath, you’re not David, and the world doesn’t care about stones you’re throwing in some random website’s comments section.There are countless things in the language that cause Undefined Behaviour, and this is one. The paper even says that the construction which doesn’t work isexplicitly illegalunder threads. If you don’t want undefined behavior, don’t write code that invokes it! You can still share memory, you just can’t do itunsynchronized.",
"parent_id": "8189408",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189279",
"author": "shinsukke",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T10:27:21",
"content": "Also would like to recommend the usage of static code analysers. I use cppcheck myself with the GUI. Its easy to use and catches a lot of stuff (mostly edge cases that you might have missed)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189287",
"author": "Сергей Григорьев",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T10:55:16",
"content": "The worst way to find the memory corruption is to use debugger…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189364",
"author": "William Payne",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T14:05:56",
"content": "Can obfuscated uncertified hacker c be hacked?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189439",
"author": "w4zm",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T16:04:23",
"content": "i stopped watching the video when he was talking about using single translation unit and including .c files",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189613",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T19:13:29",
"content": "This is the kind of content that absolutely should not be presented in a video. In order to make use of it, the really determined student will have to take notes while they watch the video, so they can use the notes when it is over. Far better to have provided this information in a “skimmable” and “truly random-access” format like a document.That’s just a general nit about the genre but this particular example lives up to all the weaknesses of the youtube farmed content tradition. The guy doesn’t actually understand or love C, and therefore presents both counterfacts and bad advice. I was astonished by the summary in the hackaday write up of C89’s scoping limitations, so I watched just enough of the video to verify that it is a faithful summary of the counterfact in the video.C89 has local scoping, it just requires that they are declared at the start of the scope —not necessarily at the start of the function. I am absolutely at peace with the fact that anyone born after 1990 will consider that distinction to be absolutely irrelevant. But anyone who doesn’t understand that kind of distinction can’t be teaching anyone else about the evolution of the C language. Not knowing pre-history is normal, but precludes teaching it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189631",
"author": "Tom G",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T19:38:59",
"content": "Yes indeed.That’s yet another reason why I dislike 99.99% of yoootooob vids.",
"parent_id": "8189613",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189635",
"author": "Tom G",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T19:48:18",
"content": "—-John Elliot V says:—-October 8, 2025 at 6:07 am—-You don’t know what you’re talking about grandpa.That is offensive, demeaning, arrogant, and hence should not be part of a Hackaday conversation.It is also wrong.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189827",
"author": "pelrun",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T02:22:58",
"content": "We have a troll who is impersonating various regulars and posting racist and offensive comments at the moment. If a comment seems wildly out of character, best to assume it’s that asshole.And it’s probably no coincidence that this is showing up while the moderation system is broken.",
"parent_id": "8189635",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189985",
"author": "Tom G",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T07:56:17",
"content": "That is unpleasant and unfortunate, and does not reflect well on Hackaday staff.I am mildly surprised impersonation is possible: comments must include the not-visible email address as the moniker, so simple automation could easily trap out imposters.",
"parent_id": "8189827",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190166",
"author": "Tom G",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T14:10:05",
"content": "But to do that, the system would have to verify the e-mail addresses, which completely undoes anonymity.(Posted by Elliot Williams, in an incognito window, just for funsies.)And FWIW: We’ve had people impersonating other anonymous posters too, in the past. That’s also not cool, but trolls gotta troll?We think about locking down the comment section every couple years and going authenticated-only. My fear is that we’d lose more good comments than bad. So we just keep whacking at the moles as they pop up. :)",
"parent_id": "8189985",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190013",
"author": "Tom G",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T09:21:18",
"content": "John Elliot V has confirmed it was a troll, and deleted the comment.Job done :)",
"parent_id": "8189827",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190163",
"author": "Elliot Williams",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T14:08:04",
"content": "Yup. It was a troll.FWIW: the way you can tell a verified account from an anonymous one is the color. Yellow = verified. This one was white.Unfortunately, allowing anyone to post under any name leads to this sort of shenanigans.(And I confirm that’s me above impersonating Tom G. But this time “in yellow”.)",
"parent_id": "8189827",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190342",
"author": "Curt mayer",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T18:32:01",
"content": "Write code. Use valgrind. Free yer memory, don’t dereference stuff off the end. Profit. C is not hard to write good code for anybody that can’t handle pointers should stick to basic",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192294",
"author": "KSanger",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T13:57:16",
"content": "I’ve written many small ‘C’ programs without running into any issues. So I was always confused when our Java programmer claimed Java was better for programming our Robot as it did not have C++’s memory issues. While I found Java a clunky language for calling the underlying C and C++ routines that actually controlled the Robot Hardware. Especially earlier when the Java equivalent methods were incomplete and undocumented.Thank you for showing us what type of Memory issues we might encounter in C99. Now we need to know if they still exist in C++ 11 or 23?As for rewriting the C Standard String Library I doubt most companies would appreciate programmers taking time to rewrite Standard String Libraries in order to use their favorite programming language. If your “Strings” are longer than 80 or 132 characters then maybe defining a custom Struct and overloading String methods makes sense. Imagine every legacy program in your company having a custom String handling method written by a different programmer.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,403.029631
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/07/jawncon-returns-this-weekend/
|
JawnCon Returns This Weekend
|
Tom Nardi
|
[
"cons",
"News"
] |
[
"JawnCon"
] |
For those local to the Philadelphia area, a “jawn” can be nearly anything or anyone — and at least for this weekend, it can even be a hacker con building up steam as it enters its third year. Kicking off this Friday at Arcadia University,
JawnCon0x2
promises to be another can’t-miss event for anyone with a curious mind that lives within a reasonable distance of the Liberty Bell.
The slate of talks leans slightly towards the infosec crowd, but there’s really something for everyone on the schedule. Presentations such as
Nothing is Safe: An Introduction to Hardware (In)Security
and
Making the GameTank – A New, Real 8-Bit Game Machine
will certainly appeal to those of us who keep a hot soldering iron within arm’s reach, while
Rolling Recon & Tire Prints: Perimeter Intrusion Detection and Remote Shenanigans via Rogue Tire Stem RF
and
Get More Radio Frequency Curious
will certainly appeal to the radio enthusiasts.
Speaking of which, anyone who wants to make their interest in radio official can sit in on the Saturday study group led by Ed “N2XDD” Wilson, the Director of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Hudson Division. After lunch, you can take your exam to become a licensed ham, and still have time to check out the lockpicking demonstrations from the local TOOOL chapter, the
Retro Show ‘n Tell
area, and rummage through the self-replenishing table of free stuff that’s looking for a new home.
Attendees can also take part in a number of unique challenges and competitions inspired by the shared professional experience of the JawnCon organizers. One of the events will have attendees putting together the fastest Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) broadband connection, as measured by era-appropriate commercial gear. Easy enough with a spool of copper wire, but the trick here is to push the legendary resilience of DSL to the limit by using unusual conductors. Think wet strings and cooked pasta. There’s also a Capture The Flag (CTF) competition that will pit teams against each other as they work their way through customer support tickets at a fictional Internet service provider.
We were on the ground for JawnCon in 2024
, and even had the good fortune to be present for the
inaugural event back in 2023
. While it may not have the name recognition of larger East Coast hacker cons, JawnCon is backed by some of the sharpest and most passionate folks we’ve come across in this community, and we’re eager to see the event grow in 2025 and beyond.
| 1
| 1
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8188983",
"author": "Sammie Gee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T22:39:35",
"content": "Thank you for sharing, something closer to my (Gamma) quadrant.Likely, will run into friends of mine that I haven’t seen in decades. Looking forward.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,402.893171
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/07/qualcomm-introduces-the-arduino-uno-q-linux-capable-sbc/
|
Qualcomm Introduces The Arduino Uno Q Linux-Capable SBC
|
Maya Posch
|
[
"Arduino Hacks",
"Parts"
] |
[
"arduino",
"qualcomm"
] |
Generally people equate the Arduino hardware platforms with MCU-centric options that are great for things like low-powered embedded computing, but less for running desktop operating systems. This looks about to change with the
Arduino Uno Q
, which keeps the familiar Uno formfactor, but features both a single-core Cortex-M33
STM32U575
MCU and a quad-core Cortex-A53 Qualcomm Dragonwing
QRB2210
SoC.
According to the store page
the board will ship starting October 24, with the price being $44 USD. This gets you a board with the aforementioned SoC and MCU, as well as 2 GB of LPDDR4 and 16 GB of eMMC. There’s also a WiFi and Bluetooth module present, which can be used with whatever OS you decide to install on the Qualcomm SoC.
This new product comes right on the heels of Arduino
being acquired
by Qualcomm. Whether the Uno Q is a worthy purchase mostly depends on what you intend to use the board for, with the SoC’s I/O going via a single USB-C connector which is also used for its power supply. This means that a USB-C expansion hub is basically required if you want to have video output, additional USB connectors, etc. If you wish to run a headless OS install this would of course be much less of a concern.
| 87
| 28
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8188860",
"author": "CJay",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T18:37:30",
"content": "Yay, just what open source needs, a massive, restrictive manufacturer buying up the biggest open source hobbyist organisation and it’s IP",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188865",
"author": "olaf",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T18:52:00",
"content": "If you can drive an oil tanker, it should be easy to drive a bicycle! :-D",
"parent_id": "8188860",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188890",
"author": "cliff claven",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:22:53",
"content": "Captain Hazelwood?",
"parent_id": "8188865",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189117",
"author": "olaf",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T04:41:32",
"content": "More like “Airplane!” :-D",
"parent_id": "8188890",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188879",
"author": "Grumpy Old Coot",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:10:23",
"content": "At least it is Qualcomm, and not Oracle or AutoCAD.",
"parent_id": "8188860",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188885",
"author": "Roboroborob",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:17:05",
"content": "At least it’s cholera and not bubonic plague…",
"parent_id": "8188879",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189086",
"author": "alanrcam",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T02:59:16",
"content": "Docs say Ethernet is supported – IF you add a dongle to the USB-C PD port.Now I’m wondering if it could replace a Raspberry Pi, as a Pi-hole node on my home network.",
"parent_id": "8188885",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190897",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T23:27:12",
"content": "Easily, or you could use a pi zero. A PiHole doesn’t need much if that’s all it’s doing. FYI it doesn’t need to be via ethernet either, local DNS isn’t really latency sensitive.",
"parent_id": "8189086",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188892",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:25:23",
"content": "or broadcom",
"parent_id": "8188879",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188934",
"author": "helge",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T20:46:35",
"content": "That’s the Element-14 stage of grief then.",
"parent_id": "8188879",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189027",
"author": "Stanto",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T00:29:09",
"content": "element14 stage of grief?",
"parent_id": "8188934",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189198",
"author": "Johnu",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T08:09:57",
"content": "Hey at least Qualcomm isn’t embroiled in a £480m anti-trust case…Oh wait…https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0rn7rwk24o",
"parent_id": "8188879",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190898",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T23:28:36",
"content": "That’s the least important aspect of this.",
"parent_id": "8189198",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189366",
"author": "DOugl",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T14:08:06",
"content": "And remember that they once tried to go after the Raspberry Pi market. Qualcomm is a Microsoft partner and the Raspberry Pi has been a thorn in that company’s side since it hit the market because it’s spreading Linux instead of Windows.Could this be a trick to bring Windows into the hobbyist market at the expense of Raspberry Pi marketshare? Watch for any signs of Linux incompatibilities and shifts towards Windows. They’ve changed their colors too quickly to be trusted.",
"parent_id": "8188860",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189936",
"author": "rasz_pl",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T06:35:26",
"content": "Yep. This is Qualcomm trying to go after Raspberry niche. They dont give two Fs about Arduino beyond brand recognition in hobby circles.I was going to mention Raspberry Pi is already running Microsoft OS – ThreadX, but apparently MS gave that up to Eclipse Foundation in 2023 :o",
"parent_id": "8189366",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188869",
"author": "Andrea Campanella",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:00:10",
"content": "That’s the end of Arduino, I fear.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188875",
"author": "cpldcpu",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:07:43",
"content": "The end was when the Arduino in-fighting happened and they stopped being innovative.This could be a new beginning. Hopefully there will be more than misaligned shield-headers…",
"parent_id": "8188869",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188883",
"author": "Grumpy Old Coot",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:14:38",
"content": "I haven’t bought an actual Arduino in years. ESP32-critters and Pi-like things are much more interesting to me now, especially considering the price/performance difference.",
"parent_id": "8188875",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189351",
"author": "Zangar the Pangarian",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T13:27:33",
"content": "I like Pi-like things for mini servers and PCs. As microcontroller substitutes though.. nah. Microcontrollers should be real time not multitasking.Haven’t played with ESP32 yet. I bet it’s great for wall powered devices. How’s the current for battery power? I still have my $4.30 MSP430 board. Are those still going strong? I would think that would be the best choice on batteries except when you NEED processing power.",
"parent_id": "8188883",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189460",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T16:21:59",
"content": "The Arduino Uno R4 WiFi had an ESP32 module.That Arduino from 2023 with the LED matrix, you don’t know.",
"parent_id": "8188883",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190904",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T23:37:05",
"content": "Sounds like you don’t teach. These are extremely interesting for their main market. They are a gateway product, and much moreso than the Pi as we are talking about needing to learn some electronics and aspects of firmware in order to do much. Want a kid to learn? Get an Arduino and a kit of parts. $30 will get you a clone plus enough sensors to spend a summer on.The Pi is a different animal. You have an OS, higher power usage, and the vagaries i/o in that environment. It’s perfect if you already know how to use an Arduino.The rp2040 might be the happy middle ground from Pi, but the Arduino ecosystem is huge and this is going to suck.",
"parent_id": "8188883",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188877",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:09:06",
"content": "Ah well all good things come to an end [this space reserved for examples].",
"parent_id": "8188869",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188941",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T21:00:29",
"content": "That was my first thought, too.Gratefully, the Uno can be built on a breadboard using an ATMega328 (or ATMega168).Let’s just hope the Arduino IDE will remain the same and keep support for all different boards.",
"parent_id": "8188869",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189623",
"author": "N/A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T19:32:57",
"content": "The Platform.IO plugin on Visual Studio Code is a much more capable IDE for microcontrollers with a similar learning curve. Both it and Arduino IDE are open source. With platform.IO becoming more popular Arduino dropping support for other boards would be the end of Arduino IDE.",
"parent_id": "8188941",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190149",
"author": "AdeV",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T13:52:09",
"content": "“with a similar learning curve.” – Hmm, kinda: You need to know a lot more C++ stuff that the Arduino IDE (or compiler?) hides from you – e.g. forward refs.I do exclusively use PIO now, though, that I’ve got the hang of it – because it is WAY better. Arduino’s IDE always frustrated me with it’s ever-so-slightly non-standard editing experience, and the lack of automatic indentation/code prettifyer.",
"parent_id": "8189623",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190908",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T23:40:29",
"content": "That comes from using Processing as your IDE. It’s hilarious it works really.I don’t need more junk in VSC, not a fan as it is, not likely to become one at this point.",
"parent_id": "8190149",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188882",
"author": "dahud",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:13:27",
"content": "I honestly don’t see the Qualcomm buyout having any real impact. Everyone I know is working on esp32s or some flavor of adafruit or seeedstudio board, and most of them are using Platformio instead of the Arduino IDE.As far as I’m concerned, Arduino is just a common API for a decent-but-not-great hardware abstraction layer. The valuable parts aren’t IP that Qualcomm can buy.I’m sure someone out there is still using official Arduino hardware and that weird cloud thing I never looked into, but I can’t imagine who or why.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189048",
"author": "Paul C, a human being",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T01:35:06",
"content": "raises handI learned how to do basics there…",
"parent_id": "8188882",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189129",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T05:21:27",
"content": "As far as I’m concerned, Arduino is just a common API for a decent-but-not-great hardware abstraction layer.Well, yes and no. It depends on point of view.The Arduino Unos based on atmega168 or atmega328 were a bit special.These binary compatible chips basically were spiritual successors to the PIC16F84 in the tinkerer scene.For both groups, there had been HEX files distributed on various hobby websites.You didn’t require a source code to simply re-built an existing hardware project, in short.Or you could use your own development tools,because you could be assured the underlying architecture wouldn’t change.:The person “on the other side” always had access to the same reference platform, so to say.But without the classic Uno (up to R3), Arduino IDE nolonger has that, um, “tower of strength”.Not sure how to put this into words..Then, there’s the legacy.Uno and the Uno R3 still had a connection to the “Wiring” platform.https://wiring.org.co/hardware/compare.htmlhttps://arduinohistory.github.io/",
"parent_id": "8188882",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189289",
"author": "AC",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T10:57:41",
"content": "More accurately, Arduino is an in-credited fork of Massimo’s student’s work. That student is basically anonymous and not holding millions in Arduino shares either.In circa 2007ish, the earliest “Arduino “ projects were Wiring.",
"parent_id": "8188882",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188887",
"author": "That's on a need to know basis",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:18:45",
"content": "I hope this encourages Qualcomm to become more open with their products… Maybe we could see more powerful SBCs as a result?Either way I don’t think arduino’s openness will come to an end… Why would Qualcomm complete the buyout in order to basically run it into the ground? (Who would buy a closed source arduino lol)Interestingly the processor used in the new UNO has a publicly available datasheet… Never thought I’d see that from qualcomm :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189016",
"author": "David Hoskins",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T00:00:35",
"content": "The exact same words were spoken after every buyout by: Intel, EA, Logitech, Meta, Alphabet, etc…",
"parent_id": "8188887",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189615",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T19:16:50",
"content": "why would Qualcomm ever be interested in being open if it’s principally designed as a patent racket company? (granted, they did start out with their own patents, but that was a looooong time ago)",
"parent_id": "8188887",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189837",
"author": "That's on a need to know basis",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T02:55:26",
"content": "all the biggest manufacturers are moving to their own SoCs…That’s their market right there.hobbyists are an untapped market for them and raspberry pi is making bank off people’s projects soooAlso i’m fairly certain that a giant company like qualcomm knows nobody is going to buy a closed source arduinoWe’ll see what they do though(tbh i’d be all for it if it led to qualcomm releasing datasheets and resources for their parts)",
"parent_id": "8189615",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190913",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T23:48:40",
"content": "Sorry, not a chance.Arduino’s openness is mostly in simplicity. This device might need a custom kernel, do you really think they are going to upstream everything? I wouldn’t bet on it.",
"parent_id": "8188887",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188888",
"author": "Jan-Willem",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:19:26",
"content": "I’ve never really been a fan of the early Arduino, mostly as it came a decade late or me. I envy the people using it as a learning platform and building their first projects. Earlier compilers were not easy to come by, and free versions were quite limited. I use Arduino IDE sometimes to short-circuit otherwise complex issues. Flashing hundred boards with basic firmware to test them, for example. If the LED doesn’t blink, the chip is dead.Having a chip with a large NAND and RAM feels like an odd decision when it comes to the UNO form factor. I’ve always felt an Arduino is like taking a Ferrari for grocery shopping around the corner, but that analogy quickly breaks with boards like this. Immensely overpowered compared to the previous board.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188895",
"author": "fiddlingjunky",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:30:18",
"content": "Arduino was formative for my learning, and I developed a pretty cool product around the atmega328p simply because all I had to do was modify the config file and I could be rolling with a full tool chain and familiar performance. If I were to do it again I’d probably slap on an stm32, but I would have taken far longer to learn embedded if Arduino (hardware, software, and the countless guides and forum posts) hadn’t been there to hold my hand",
"parent_id": "8188888",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188918",
"author": "anon",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T20:13:11",
"content": "Honestly Arduino just had me misinformed and confused for a few years until I walked away from their IDE. I had no idea how peripherals worked. What memory mapped IO was. Timers. Really anything that makes an embedded system interesting. Arduino abstracts all that away such that it feels like software. So as soon as you use any other toy the abstraction disappears and you suddenly don’t know anything. I honestly did not benefit from my years with them at all.",
"parent_id": "8188888",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189139",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T05:37:19",
"content": "About the criticism for the abstraction..Before the Arduinos we had to learn assembly language for each different microcontroller chip.Like for the popular Microchip PIC16C84, for example.Now, other PICmicro chips had a different instruction set again.That’s why the existence of the successors PIC16F84 and PIC16F84A were so important to us!We couldn’t just switch to another model without re-learning everything and re-write our programs from scratch.Back then, we would have been happy if a free and hardware-independent development tool was available.Because things like PIC Basic etc had been commercial products not seldomly.Which was okay for personal use, but not if you were going to share your projects with others.The Arduino IDE greatly helped to keep projects portable.So you could switch your board during development, maybe if it turns out to be too limited.So you can migrate from an Arduino Uno to an Arduino Mega to an Arduino Due.",
"parent_id": "8188918",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189320",
"author": "hjf",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T12:03:25",
"content": "this isn’t a bad thing. Arduino never presented itself as a high performance electronics platform, but as a platform to help people (artist types mostly) deliver their concept. it had always been about, basically, flashing LEDs as part of something biggerI don’t know what’s up with your statement about “the abstraction disappears and suddenly you don’t know anything”. huh? this IS the experience with any, literally any embedded platform. everything you learned about esp32 with the esp-idf is completely useless if you want to jump to stm32.back to the intended use case of Arduino: try flashing an LED with Arduino and then try it with STM32 and compare the obscene amount of boilerplate you need for it. same for even Pi Pico.sometimes all you need is a little timer and an LED. at 42 I learned thats far more fun and satisfactory to use the a MCU for this rather than spending hours doing it with a 555 for no real benefit. I’d rather spend my time having fun with the RP2040 PIO module to generate video signals than tuning the capacitor value of a 555.",
"parent_id": "8188918",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189986",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T07:56:41",
"content": "sometimes all you need is a little timer and an LED. at 42 I learned thats far more fun and satisfactory to use the a MCU for this rather than spending hours doing it with a 555 for no real benefit. I’d rather spend my time having fun with the RP2040 PIO module to generate video signals than tuning the capacitor value of a 555.People are all different here, I guess.Personally, being younger, I pray that I will never end up like the old amateurs or certain relatives that age.I saw how they changed, how they looked down upon the works of their younger self.They got lazy, arrogant, mentally unflexible and glorified modern tech,unable to do things the traditional, less comfortable way.I’d rather wish to die before adapting their mindset. Long life the 555.",
"parent_id": "8189320",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190915",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T23:53:01",
"content": "So, they stayed amateur and decided to buy their way forward? That’s common enough in computing in general, complete with the Dunning – Krueger at full bore. It’s even worse when they get management roles.",
"parent_id": "8189986",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188894",
"author": "fuzzyfuzzyfungus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:28:27",
"content": "I’m honestly puzzled by why Qualcomm would bring arduino into this; when Qualcomm basically doesn’t make parts that target the traditional size/power level that arduinos target(they probably do incidentally; just because of how much is going on with a USB-PD implementation, probably a cortex M0 hiding in more than a few cell PMICs these days); and what they do make is more rPi sized.It is true that arduino supports the STM32 that they bolted on to this board; but so do the ~$2.50ish mini dev boards; and it’s not like the arduino team has exclusive hold on the secret of not pricing your dev boards like the only customers are engineers who will be expensing the $1,500/unit as soon as Legal finishes the NDAs.If they want in on what rPi does; they could just sort of…do it. Apparently the QRB2210 already has a debian build; and it’s not like Broadcom is selling on the strength and openness of their firmware blob and videocore driver implementation; so why do they want to take on either the burden of ongoing development for microcontrollers they don’t make; or the PR hit of murdering a popular piece of software for various microcontrollers?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188899",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:37:06",
"content": "this board is an odd duck…at first i thought the Cortex-M33 core was like a “big.LITTLE” sort of thing but it seems to be a separate chip? i’m not sure i see the point, or how the two chips interact with eachother. i’m curious about the power save modes of the qualcomm “mpu” there. there’s a lot of demand for something pi-like with decent idle and suspend modes.anyways the thing that caught my eye is the 8×13 LED matrix. on the one hand, it seems like it’s in that awkward state between being too cool to ignore and too limited to use. but on the other hand, man, as someone who has done debugging with a single flashing LED, or sometimes just using the two channels of my oscilloscope…to have a whole LED matrix available out of the box for debugging is pretty exciting!FWIW the article is misleading – I/O is also through the “uno shield” style connector. i’m not sure what that’s worth, but it’s not just the USB-C, depending on what you’re trying to do.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188906",
"author": "Maya Posch",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:57:07",
"content": "I specifically said ‘SoC I/O’, as I’m not sure that the Uno headers are connected to the SoC, or only the MCU. From the little info that I could find it seems that it’s solely connected to the STM32 MCU, but I could be wrong.Either way, you’re not going to output HDMI via the Uno headers :)",
"parent_id": "8188899",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188927",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T20:25:22",
"content": "haha oh in my mind an STM32 is an SoC too :)i also struggled to find out what exactly is connected to the headers.At first i thought the stm32 might be a bootloader for the qualcomm chip, which might or might not make sense. But now i feel like it’s backwards of that…almost as if you might ssh into the big computer just to run a program to program the small computer? Could be a nice way to mop up bitbanged I/O sort of tasks. i’ve long considered the rp2040 to be the perfect accessory to a pi if you need traditional microcontroller I/O.i guess we’ll have to wait and see if anyone finds a good use for it",
"parent_id": "8188906",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190912",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T23:46:27",
"content": "Pretty sure it’s the second. This has become a popular way of getting around robust i/o being a weakness of SoCs in general. IMO the stm32 isn’t a great choice here, but it’s not bad?I get the impression somebody was excited about making an educational product here, and that didn’t completely make it through management. It might still be fun, but it’s priced too high.",
"parent_id": "8188927",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189119",
"author": "olaf",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T04:45:53",
"content": "Yes! You can have a LED for every bug you mention. :-D",
"parent_id": "8188899",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188908",
"author": "rclark",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T20:01:43",
"content": "I only bought one UNO over the years. Still not used in a project. I’ve been using the Metro boards from Adafruit if I need the form factor / capabilities. Like the new Adafruit Metro RP2350 board as an example.This might be a nice board, but it is a johnny come late to the party. I tend to use Linux only when I need the power for a camera, storage, or whatever service I need that i don’t want to develop… But with Pico and Pico 2 W and other RP2040 or RP2350 based vendor boards is usually is enough to do the job at hand.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188911",
"author": "William Payne",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T20:05:02",
"content": "is “AI Overview Modern compilation toolchains likeLLVM and Clang” an example of Big Tech AI?No Google AI response!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188921",
"author": "Kelly",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T20:16:23",
"content": "Putting 104 LED’s only to be covered up under any shield you plug in – priceless.It seems like a silly board, and it has HDMI apparently. Is that an “UNO”?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188942",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T21:04:53",
"content": "The not so old Arduino Uno R4 had two versions, one with LED matrix.Also, the R4 did fit in the clear chassis meant for R3 and original Uno..",
"parent_id": "8188921",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189131",
"author": "Knut Stumberg",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T05:24:49",
"content": "And the shield headers are still misaligned",
"parent_id": "8188921",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189329",
"author": "M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T12:21:21",
"content": "Gotta keep their DRM.",
"parent_id": "8189131",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188928",
"author": "MoMo",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T20:27:46",
"content": "i don´t get the point of having a relatively powerful SoC in this crappy form factor with that error of layout with misplaced connectors that was the original “Arduino” FLAW. And so few GPIOs and not even Ethernet or CAN. Looks like breeding an elephant with a snail.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190916",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T23:55:19",
"content": "You can get Ethernet by breakout from the usb. CAN is a whole different animal. That said, it’s not a great design.",
"parent_id": "8188928",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188940",
"author": "Darnell Gadberry",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T20:58:34",
"content": "Many traditional semiconductor manufacturers have recently discovered that ignoring the maker market is a foolish business strategy. Careful observers have noticed that maker-oriented development tools, and inexpensive boards are often one the primary routes by which a particular embedded microcontroller finds its way into a commercial product. Why buy a $500 Atmel dev board from Digikey when you can purchase a $25 Arduino Nano with complete soup-to-nuts IoT support? Proto your product on the Arduino and spin a board for your real product. Raspberry Pi began its life as a non-profit dedicated to putting inexpensive computers into the hands of school-aged children. It has morphed into phenomenally-successful, stock traded company, with over 70% of their sales now going into boards used in commercial products.Qualcomm issued a press release today talking about the Arduino acquisition and how it gives them an entre into the maker universe. Time will tell Qualcomm actually changes their absurdly secretive policies on requiring NDAs for data sheets, forcing developers to treat portions of their parts as black boxes because the only access is through object-code only blobs provided by Qualcomm. Even though Qualcomm stated in its press conference, and press releases that they intend to allow Arduino to exist as a stand-alone, autonomous entity, I feel very confident in predicting that they will likely break Arduino. TI, Atmel, ST, and quite a few other major semiconductor manufacturers have successfully made the transition to supporting the “I only need 5 pieces” market. However, secrecy seems to be baked into Qualcomm’s DNA.I wish them well, it would be a tragedy to lose the very rich ecosystem that has evolved around Arduino over the past 17 or so years.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188949",
"author": "Truth",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T21:14:02",
"content": "An honest question (I have no idea of the answer is), what are Qualcomm like when it comes to documentation, is it all NDA’s for everything ? Or do they provide enough public information that the developers of OpenBSD could easily port their OS to run correctly on Qualcomm hardware with minimal effort ?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188959",
"author": "Some1",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T21:40:13",
"content": "Documentation is a big oof in some parts – of course NDA everything and at least from what I’ve seen they got a datasheet which mostly just says “we are following specs of xy”, there are integration training slides (yep, just a large pdfed PowerPoint presentation), no technical reference manuals and the register map is both incomplete and not quite accessible. Createpoint (their document platform) is quite meh, the search functions as so good you just download everything related to your product and do a local search on the files. Everything else you need to know is behind a paywall called ticket system.Support can be great if you’re an interesting customer for them (including direct lines to the engineers) or it’s just mediocre at best.As much as I learned to dislike Nvidia for different reasons, their documentation was actually not too bad, despite the shit they were doing with most of their PDFs: password protected, Server based DRM with ping back (of course it was down in hot project phases…) and you couldn’t even print a single page… They seem to be quite paranoid…",
"parent_id": "8188949",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189000",
"author": "kdev",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T23:11:24",
"content": "The entire point of the Arduino, I thought, was you’ve got lots of friendly libraries for newbies to cut their teeth on, and then once they’re ready to dive deeper the ATMEGA datasheet is small enough to be readily comprehendable.These massive chips with Arduino bolted onto them have way too steep a learning curve.",
"parent_id": "8188959",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188960",
"author": "CJay",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T21:42:16",
"content": "Seems to be all covered by NDA, Licenses, hidden.The new Arduino board seems to have an OS so somebody is developing it but I suspect this will be like many, many of the Pi competitors, whizzy spec, flashy launches and “sooo much cheaper” until you dig into the specs and then b**ger all support after the first release",
"parent_id": "8188949",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189010",
"author": "kldj",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T23:34:38",
"content": "I have lately come across quite a few buildroot-only SBCs, and they are a big pain to work with, so it’s nice to see you can put a “full” distro on this, at least, though it’s a bit concerning they only mention Debian (wrt driver openness).This is pretty pricey relative to something like Radxa’s Rock-2F, though I haven’t seen the $15 1GB variant available in the US since the first day I saw them and bought a handful. 1GB works great for terminal-only (I incidentally have one hooked up to a large RGBW LED array), but 2GB is going to be painful to use for conventional graphical desktops. It’s maybe useful for kiosks where they’re locked to doing specific tasks and won’t run into memory reaper trouble, but then you’re probably better off picking up any bargain-bin Android tablet on Amazon (I hate Android development process, but I can make a webview to a web frontend without having an aneurysm), or if you really want proper linux, Pine64’s PineTab lineup is excellent.-And then on the STEM side for kids or newcomers otherwise, or just practical hobby stuff where you don’t need a display — I have these things all over my house and yard — it’s hard to justify something like this (or a RPi with how expensive they’ve become) over a bag of ESP32C6 boards from Seeedstudio. They’re so cheap (no sweat if you burn one), can run on cheap 5V USBC solar panels (or pretty much whatever) — and they’re tiny but not too tiny to work with (and you can put header pins in them if you insist on no-solder). Fantastic for starting out learning, and it even has a BMS integrated for single-cell LiPo battery (though I prefer USBC solar panels with a battery integrated). -and there’re enough resources to run an FTP or even HTTP server. They connect over USB, and you can flash MicroPython to them without much hassle if you like.In conclusion, I have no idea who the product is for at this price, and I’d probably fire the guy at Qualcomm who thought there was synergy in buying Arduino. The upcoming 4GB variant, I can imagine uses for, but Idunno how you’re going to move them at $55-60, especially because ~nobody associates Arduino with SBCs. The MCU and SBC markets both have becomeverycompetitive in the past few years.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189011",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T23:34:47",
"content": "Seems this is kinda like the Arduino Yún.Maybe 7 or 8 years ago, Qualcomm did make something like an RPi, or maybe closer to a BeagleBoard. But it was more expensive (over $100 IIRC), and didn’t seem to generate a community like the RPi.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189015",
"author": "Steven Clark",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T23:56:54",
"content": "So it’s like a Blue Pill, a Pi Clone, and an ESP 32 spotwelded together on one board? Feels like the price is a loss-leader like the Nucleo boards.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189024",
"author": "Leonardo",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T00:22:26",
"content": "No, thanks!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189034",
"author": "Ray",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T00:37:37",
"content": "Success IMO will be guaranteed only if Adafruit and Seeed Studio and others compete in the new ecosystem. Competition in the marketplace only happen when the economics are sufficient to support multiple manufacturers/suppliers.Arduino is not simply a product, rather it is a paradigm which drives a set of development tools all of which can be invoked by CLI or scripted underneath the GUI.Of critical importance is the Arduino open-source libraries that provide API’s as well as documentation of how low-level access is accomplished: good libs provide great educational opportunities.I will keep an open mind on this and watch how Limor Fried (Adafruit) reacts: if she commits resources, then maybe there is a marketplace.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189055",
"author": "Phillip Torrone",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T01:50:28",
"content": "here reading, learning, and making and shipping open-source hardware, fun fact, i started hack a day 21 years ago…",
"parent_id": "8189034",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189620",
"author": "Partick",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T19:29:21",
"content": "And it ended up being sold out to Big Industry, just like arduino. Not sure what your point is (and am very doubtful you’re who you claim to be)",
"parent_id": "8189055",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189094",
"author": "Roz",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T03:24:58",
"content": "So much negativity. Just check the web site: “Is UNO Q open source?Yes, UNO Q schematics and gerbers are available under the CC-BY-SA 4.0 license.”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189266",
"author": "sweethack",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T10:05:21",
"content": "And not a single word about the software (and the required license and internet connectivity to use Qualcomm’s SDK). It’s very likely the STM32 firmware will be open source, but very unlikely the Linux on the Qualcomm chip will be.",
"parent_id": "8189094",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189297",
"author": "AC",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T11:10:42",
"content": "You should be noting all the items NOT under Creative Commons..Unless you were being subtly ironic.",
"parent_id": "8189094",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189926",
"author": "grap",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T06:11:25",
"content": "The only way you can get that Q chip is desoldering the UNO Q.so it means nothing about open.just like RPi (not pico)",
"parent_id": "8189094",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189122",
"author": "haaad",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T04:53:00",
"content": "Never purchased arduino with its brand pumped up prices. Basic board so underpowered for the buck. Community built around is the only good think.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189143",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T05:49:10",
"content": "The Arduino Uno (incl. R3) had been cloned many times throughout the years.Some versions were sold as Genuino Uno, even, to not use Arduino brand.On the Arduino website itself it is/was documented how to build yourself an Uno from scratch using an atmega168/atmega328.You can even use a classic serial port connection instead of an USB-serial dongle.The new Uno bootloader even was written by someone from community, if memory serves.So there’s no reason to be angered. The Uno (up to R3) is/was as “free” as it gets.The more complicated models, such as Mega and Due also had some clones from far east, I believe. Speaking under correction.",
"parent_id": "8189122",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190467",
"author": "haaad",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T01:00:50",
"content": "Angered… I keep reading my post to find it – I do not see any anger – just observation. It must come from you. And when you read it again you will see I am talking about da brand and I am fully aware about community that provides more affordable solutions…",
"parent_id": "8189143",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189126",
"author": "codeasm",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T05:09:08",
"content": "I first saw Jeff geerling talk about this new product and qualcom, id like to tell the author here that alott of the SoC io is exposed bottom headershttps://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2025/qualcomms-buying-arduino-%E2%80%93-what-it-means-makersPersonally i think this isnt doing either Qualcomm nor arduino any good. Good educational materials and easy to get parts is where people will learn. its an expensive toy, that doesnt teach what we expected from arduino level devices",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189285",
"author": "Renze",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T10:44:24",
"content": "Even if Qualcomm publishes a full datasheet and reference manual (including register map) of their SoC the board still has other proprietary bits such as the ANX7625. One can only dream of them also releasing the full datasheet and programming manual for that without NDA too.This board simply is not an Arduino.",
"parent_id": "8189126",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189331",
"author": "M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T12:23:53",
"content": "It’s reminiscent of the curie board that carried an intel quark. It’ll probably meet the same fate.",
"parent_id": "8189285",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189295",
"author": "yukyukyu",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T11:09:32",
"content": "one question:it is open source? I can create a clone? no blobs, good documentation?everything else is not important",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189397",
"author": "Benjamin Henrion",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T15:10:49",
"content": "Time to fork Arduino.Qualcomm is a huge software patent troll, no sympathy for them. Not a single cent should go in their pocket.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189687",
"author": "Sammie Gee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T21:03:43",
"content": "Arduino clones are kinda aplenty already in the usual places. (bought a few over the years, all work as they should, even though they are not “officially supported” – Nano, Mega, etc)I imagine now they’ll have their hobbyist market demand quadrupling literally overnight : – ]",
"parent_id": "8189397",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189414",
"author": "Giulio",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T15:33:10",
"content": "Enshittification in 3…2…1…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189590",
"author": "Maiden",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T18:39:12",
"content": "my interaction with qualcom was a salesrep throwing NDAs on us just to show their products. He proudly proclaimed that they hired more lawyers then engineers so we better not breach the NDA…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189691",
"author": "Jii",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T21:10:07",
"content": "I hope you wiped your asses with the NDAs and told him to get lost.Qualcomm will ruin the whole Arduino concept and it won’t take long.",
"parent_id": "8189590",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189755",
"author": "Corey Brady",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T23:33:16",
"content": "Any confirmation that you can access gpio from Linux as fileio?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189925",
"author": "grap",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T06:06:54",
"content": "After reading the datasheet I find that it is one stm32 ardunio board plus one linux SBC board, sharing the same piece of PCB and power supply. They even have dedicated IO ports.Interesting.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190412",
"author": "scharkalvin",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T21:28:07",
"content": "From the specs it looks like the UNO Q could be a good SDR platform.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,403.478867
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/07/2025-hackaday-supercon-more-wonderful-speakers/
|
2025 Hackaday Supercon: More Wonderful Speakers
|
Elliot Williams
|
[
"cons",
"Hackaday Columns",
"Slider"
] |
[
"2025 Hackaday Superconference",
"announcement",
"speakers"
] |
Supercon is just around the corner, and we’re absolutely thrilled to announce the second half of our slate! Supercon
will
sell out so
get your tickets now
before it’s too late. If you’re on the fence, we hope this pushes you over the line. And if it doesn’t, stay tuned — we’ve still got to tell you everything about the badge and the fantastic keynote speaker lineup.
(What? More than one keynote speaker? Unheard of!)
And as if that weren’t enough, there’s delicious food, great live music, hot soldering irons, and an absolutely fantastic crowd of the Hackaday faithful, and hopefully a bunch of new folks too. If you’re a Supercon fan, we’re looking forward to seeing you again, and if it’s your first time, we’ll be sure to make you feel welcome.
Amie Dansby and Karl Koscher
Hands-On Hardware: Chip Implants, Weird Hacks, and Questionable Decisions
What happens when your body is the dev board? Join Amie Dansby, who’s been living with four biochip implants for years, and Karl Koscher as they dive into the wild world of biohacking, rogue experiments, and deeply questionable decisions in the name of science, curiosity, and chaos.
Arsenio Menendez
Long Waves, Short Talk: A Practical IR Spectrum Guide
Whether you’re a seasoned sensor engineer or a newcomer join us in exploring the capabilities of SWIR, MWIR, and LWIR infrared bands. Learn how each wavelength range enables enhanced vision across a variety of environments, as well as how the IR bands are used in surveillance, industrial inspection, target tracking, and more.
Daniel [DJ] Harrigan
Bringing Animatronics to Life
This talk explores the considerations behind designing a custom Waldo/motion capture device that allows him to remotely puppet a complex animatronic with over twenty degrees of freedom. We’ll discuss the electrical, mechanical, and software challenges involved in creating a responsive, robust remote controller.
Daryll Strauss
Covert Regional Communication with Meshtastic
Learn how Meshtastic uses low-cost LORA radios to build ad hoc mesh networks for secure, decentralized communication. We’ll cover fundamentals, hardware, configuration tips, and techniques to protect against threats, whether for casual chats, data sharing, or highly covert group communication.
Allie Katz and SJ Jones
Fireside Chat: Metal 3D Printing … in space?!
Metal 3D Printing … in space?! SJ Jones is an additive manufacturing solutions engineer and nobody knows metal printing for intense applications like they do. In this discussion they’ll be talking with designer and 3D printing expert Allie Katz about computational design, artful engineering, and 3D prints that can survive a rocket trip.
Davis DeWitt
Movie Magic and the Value of Practical Effects
What does it take to create something that’s never been seen before? In film and TV, special effects must not only work, but also feel alive. This talk explores how blending hardware hacking with art creates functional and emotional storytelling, from explosive stunts to robots with personality, these projects blur the lines between disciplines.
Aaron Eiche
The Magic of Electropermanent Magnets!
Electropermanent magnets are like magic, an electromagnet but permanently switchable with a bit of current and a few microseconds. Aaron shares the adventures in using cheap off-the-shelf components to build his own and how to make them work empirically.
Fangzheng Liu
CircuitScout: Probing PCBs the Easy Way
Debugging PCBs can be challenging and time-consuming. This talk dives into the open-source DIY project, CircuitScout. This small desktop machine system automates debugging by selecting pads from your schematic, locating them, and controlling a probe machine for safe, hands-free testing.
Joe Needleman
From Sunlight to Silicon
AI workloads consume significant energy, but what if it didn’t? This hands-on session shows how to design and run a solar-powered computer cluster, focusing on NVIDIA Jetson Orin hardware, efficient power pipelines, and software strategies for high performance under tight energy limits.
John Duffy
The Circuits Behind Your Multimeter
Everyone uses a multimeter, but do you know what’s inside? This talk explores the inner workings, plus insights from building one, the design choices, and the tradeoffs behind common models. Discover the hidden engineering that makes this everyday tool accurate, safe, and reliable.
Josh Martin
DIY Depth: Shooting and Printing 3D Images
3D photography isn’t just for vintage nerds or high-end tech! Learn how stereoscopic film cameras work, the mechanics of lenticular lenses and how to print convincing 3D images at home, plus dive into digitizing, aligning, and processing 3D images from analog sources.
Kay Antoniak
From bytes to bobbins: Driving an embroidery machine
This talk explores how an embroidery machine brings out the best of tinkering: production, customization, and creative hacks. Learn how to run your first job on that dusty makerspace machine, create your own patch using open-source tools, and see what extra capabilities lie beyond the basics.
Keith Penney
Ghostbus: Simpler CSR Handling in Verilog
Designing FPGA applications means wrangling CSRs and connecting busses, a tedious & error-prone task. This talk introduces Ghostbus, an approach that automates address assignment and bus routing entirely in Verilog to keep designs clean, maintainable, and functional.
Kumar Abhishek
Laser ablating PCBs
Once too expensive, PCB fabrication via laser ablation of copper is now accessible via commodity fiber laser engravers. This talk shares experiences in making boards using this chemical-free technique and how it can help in rapid prototyping.
Karl Koscher
rtlsdr.tv: Broadcast TV in your browser
This talk introduces rtlsdr.tv and will cover the basics of digital video streams, programmatically feeding live content to video through Media Source Extensions, and using WebUSB to interact with devices that previously required kernel drivers.
If you’re still here,
get your tickets
!
| 2
| 1
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8188840",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T17:49:35",
"content": "Change name to Audiocon and you’ll have plenty of great speakers. :-p",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190780",
"author": "Jdams",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T16:31:20",
"content": "Lol I just came from the article on audiophile equipment. So I clicked on this article thinking that people had made speakers out of different things. Ugh I need my morning coffee.",
"parent_id": "8188840",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
}
] | 1,760,371,403.530205
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/07/can-a-coin-cell-make-27-volts/
|
Can A Coin Cell Make 27 Volts?
|
Jenny List
|
[
"classic hacks"
] |
[
"boost converter",
"coin cell",
"joule thief"
] |
We have all no doubt at some point released the magic smoke from a piece of electronics, it’s part of what we do. But sometimes it’s a piece of electronics we’re not quite ready to let go, and something has to be fixed. [Chris Greening] had a board just like that, a 27 volt generator from an LCD panel, and
he crafted a new circuit for it
.
The original circuit, which we think he may have drawn incorrectly, uses a small boost converter IC with the expected inductor and diode. His replacement is the tried and tested joule thief, but with a much higher base resistor than its normal application in simply maintaining a battery voltage. It sucks 10 mA from the battery and is regulated with a Zener diode, but there’s still further room for improvement. Adding an extra transistor and using the Zener as a feedback component causes the oscillator to shut off as the voltage increases, something which in this application is fine.
It’s interesting to see a joule thief pushed into a higher voltage application like this, but we sense perhaps it could be made more efficient by seeking out an equivalent to the boost converter chip. Or even
a flyback converter
.
| 8
| 7
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8188797",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T16:36:40",
"content": "Could you make it switch the other way around and make it all yellow? Then you could put a black mask over it and create switchable signs.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188905",
"author": "Aknup",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:52:27",
"content": "Did you know that Bigclive actually originally came up with the name ‘joule thief’?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189824",
"author": "nik282000",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T02:20:15",
"content": "BigClive is an internet legend. Along with Mike’s Electric stuff, Bill Beaty, Jeri Elsworth, Benkrasnow and a half a dozen more I am surely missing. If it weren’t for them I would not have had any fun at all as a teen.",
"parent_id": "8188905",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189085",
"author": "prosper",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T02:58:12",
"content": "I played around with lighting neon bulbs using a joule thief. Add a third winding with a lot of turns, and you can make an 80V discharge bulb glow from a 1v5 cell.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189123",
"author": "ialonepossessthetruth",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T04:56:18",
"content": "Now do it with a potato.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189163",
"author": "Thijzert",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T07:03:00",
"content": "Why not use a 555?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189274",
"author": "paulvdh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T10:17:48",
"content": "The coincell probably won’t, but if you add a bit of electronic circuitry you can get a bunch of kV out of it if that’s your goal.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190154",
"author": "Aknup",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T13:59:53",
"content": "I’m guessing ultimately the limit in how low and amperage and high a voltage you can achieve is governed by the requirement to get the magnetic field strong enough in a coil to have an effect in the circuit.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,403.571661
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/07/smart-bulbs-are-turning-into-motion-sensors/
|
Smart Bulbs Are Turning Into Motion Sensors
|
Lewin Day
|
[
"Current Events",
"Featured",
"home hacks",
"Original Art",
"Slider"
] |
[
"hue",
"philips hue",
"radio",
"RF",
"sensing",
"smart home",
"smarthome",
"wifi",
"wiz",
"zigbee"
] |
If you’ve got an existing smart home rig, motion sensors can be a useful addition to your setup. You can use them for all kinds of things, from turning on lights when you enter a room, to shutting off HVAC systems when an area is unoccupied. Typically, you’d add dedicated motion sensors to your smart home to achieve this. But what if your existing smart light bulbs could act as the motion sensors instead?
The Brightest Bulb In The Bulb Box
The most typical traditional motion sensors use passive infrared detection, wherein the sensor picks up on the infrared radiation emitted by a person entering a room. Other types of sensors include break-beam sensors, ultrasonic sensors, and cameras running motion-detection algorithms. All of these technologies can readily be used with a smart home system if so desired. However, they all require the addition of extra hardware. Recently, smart home manufacturers have been exploring methods to enable motion detection
without
requiring the installation of additional dedicated sensors.
Hue Are You?
The technology uses data on radio propagation between multiple smart bulbs to determine whether or not something (or someone) is moving through an area. Credit: Ivani
Philips has achieved this goal with its new
MotionAware
technology, which will be deployed on the company’s new Hue Bridge Pro base station and Hue smart bulbs. The company’s smart home products use Zigbee radios for communication. By monitoring small fluctuations in the Zigbee communications between the smart home devices, it’s possible to determine if a large object, such as a human, is moving through the area. This can be achieved by looking at fluctuations to signal strength, latency, and bit error rates. This allows motion detection using Hue smart bulbs without any specific motion detection hardware required.
Using MotionAware requires end users to buy the latest Philips Hue Bridge Pro base station. As for whether there is some special magic built into this device, or if Phillips merely wants to charge users to upgrade to the new feature? Well, Philips claims
the new bridge is required
because it’s powerful enough to run the AI-powered algorithms that sift the radio data and determine whether motion is occurring. The tech is based on IP
from a company called Ivani
, which developed Sensify—an RF sensing technology that works with WiFi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee signals.
To enable motion detection, multiple Hue bulbs must be connected to the same Hue Bridge Pro, with three to four lights used to create a motion sensing “area” in a given room. When setting up the system, the room must be vacated so the system can calibrate itself. This involves determining how the Zigbee radio signals propagate between devices when nobody—humans or animals—is inside. The system then uses variations from this baseline to determine if something is moving in the room. The system works whether the lights themselves are on or off, because the light isn’t used for sensing—as long as the bulb has power, it can use its radio for sensing motion. Philips notes this only increases standby power consumption by 1%, and a completely negligible amount while the light is actually “on” and outputting light.
Ivani holds patents regarding using radio signals to detect motion in this manner. Credit: US Patent
Qualcomm has a similar patent with far better artwork. Credit: US Patent
There are some limitations to the use of this system. It’s primarily for indoor use, as Philips notes that the system benefits from the way radio waves bounce off surrounding interior walls and objects. Lights should also be separated from 1 to 7 meters apart for optimal use, and effectively create a volume between them in which motion sensing is most effective. Depending on local conditions, it’s also possible that the system may detect motion on adjacent levels or in nearby rooms, so sensitivity adjustment or light repositioning may be necessary. Notably, though, you won’t need new bulbs to use MotionAware. The system will work with all the Hue mains-powered bulbs that have been manufactured since 2014.
The WiZ Kids Were Way Ahead
Philips aren’t the only ones offering in-built motion sensing with their smart home bulbs. WiZ also has a product in this space, which feels coincidental given the company was acquired in 2019 by Philip’s own former lighting division. Unlike Philips Hue, WiZ products rely on WiFi for communication. The company’s SpaceSense technology again relies on perturbations in radio signals between devices, but using WiFi signals instead of Zigbee. What’s more, the company has been at this since 2022
There are some notable differences in Wiz’s technology. SpaceSense is able to work with just two devices at a minimum, and not just lights—you can use any of the company’s newer lights, smart switches, or devices, as long as they’re compatible with SpaceSense, which covers the vast majority of the company’s recent product.
Ultimately, WiZ beat Philips by years with this tech. However, perhaps due to its lower market penetration, it didn’t make the same waves when SmartSense dropped in 2022.
Radio Magic
We’ve seen similar feats before. It’s actually possible to get all kinds of useful information out of modern radio chipsets for physical sensing purposes. We’ve seen systems that
measure a person’s heart rate
using nothing more than perturbations in WiFi transmission over short distances, for example. When you know what you’re looking for, a properly-built algorithm can let you dig usable motion information out of your radio hardware.
Ultimately, it’s neat to see smart home companies expanding their offerings in this way. By leveraging the radio chipsets in existing smart bulbs, engineers have been able to pull out granular enough data to enable this motion-sensing parlour trick. If you’ve ever wanted your loungeroom lights to turn on when you walk in, or a basic security notification when you’re out of the house… now you can do these kinds of things without having to add more hardware. Expect other smart home platforms to replicate this sort of thing in future if it proves practical and popular with end users.
| 33
| 13
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8188739",
"author": "Andy",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T14:28:55",
"content": "Passive radar for the den? Clever and useful, but does it work in home assistant? So as to not go the way of the Logitech buttons?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188763",
"author": "Tony M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T15:37:59",
"content": "Am i the only one squinting eyes with the bulb?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188923",
"author": "Michael David Friederick",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T20:19:23",
"content": "Yes, but you could try turning up the brightness, it is a feature of smart bulbs.",
"parent_id": "8188763",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189052",
"author": "Tony M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T01:43:18",
"content": "lol I mean with the cover image of the article :) I think is more like a reflex, same as we (as men) give a second glance to a mannequin just to say ah! its a mannequin!",
"parent_id": "8188923",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189219",
"author": "Commentor",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T08:39:49",
"content": "could you have said this any creepier?",
"parent_id": "8189052",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189609",
"author": "Tony M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T19:11:34",
"content": "No , I mean female human figure is a must watch for a man ,and I mean at genetic level, so no, when you catch a female figure formed mannequin with the corner of the eye, there is a big probability that you make a second watch and then you think somethink like oh! false positive!THE ONLY CREEPY HERE IS YOU.",
"parent_id": "8189219",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189652",
"author": "Klaus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T20:14:23",
"content": "Talk for yourself, we are not doing that. You are doing that.",
"parent_id": "8189052",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189793",
"author": "Tony M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T01:03:53",
"content": "we? you cannot talk in the name of the HaD community. Anyway I guess people walk in the street with tunnel vision these days :), maybe they are so busy looking the phone. Easy targets. Anyway going back to my casual, spontaneous, non-belligerent comment ,yeah! I squinting eyes when I saw the image of the bulb! then I tought something like wth I”m doing :)",
"parent_id": "8189652",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188766",
"author": "M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T15:43:34",
"content": "Gee, as if uploading the layout of my house to amazon through my roomba wasn’t bad enough, soon the exact position of my body will be on someone’s servers in real time too.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188842",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T17:51:34",
"content": "Well one could always use one’s mouse sensor to listen in on your conversations.",
"parent_id": "8188766",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188886",
"author": "M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:17:48",
"content": "That’s total BS. Not only can optical mice not do that (and spend their entire lives face down into a desk), but they’re attached to a computer which would have to be hacked into first.This is something that is designed from the get-go to be owned, operated, and to forward everything to the company mothership. Not even remotely comparable.",
"parent_id": "8188842",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188902",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:43:11",
"content": "I love when people knee jerk.Here’s your BS:https://hoodline.com/2025/10/ai-turns-popular-gaming-mouse-sensors-from-sunnyvale-company-into-microphones/",
"parent_id": "8188886",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188922",
"author": "Michael David Friederick",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T20:17:30",
"content": "I love it when people use irrelevant info to make their argument and think they’re smarter than those in the “know”.",
"parent_id": "8188902",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188933",
"author": "limroh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T20:42:40",
"content": "The vulnerability affects mice with polling rates of 4,000 Hz or higherVS.Well one could ALWAYS use ONE’S MOUSE SENSOR to listen in on your conversations.A minuscule subset of mice does not lend any credibility to your massively overly broad claim.",
"parent_id": "8188902",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189091",
"author": "Horatio Caine",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T03:20:34",
"content": "Wouldn’t have to be hacked, manufacturer just needs to dangle the carrot of “reprogrammable buttons or customizing your mouse RGB LED pattern through our closed source proprietary software package”",
"parent_id": "8188886",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188931",
"author": "B. Hard",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T20:33:52",
"content": "Exactly.",
"parent_id": "8188766",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188970",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T22:12:04",
"content": "Soon? Hahaha it already was a decade ago",
"parent_id": "8188766",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190699",
"author": "Winston",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T11:54:38",
"content": "“as if uploading the layout of my house to amazon through my roomba wasn’t bad enough”That reminds me of the outstanding X-Files episode about an over-dependence on automation where that was shown:Season 11 Episode 7: “Rm9sbG93ZXJz” received very positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an approval rating of 100% with an average rating of 8.2 out of 10 based on 14 reviews. In December 2018, TV Guide ranked “Rm9sbG93ZXJz” as #23 in the 25 Best Episodes of TV in 2018, saying “‘Rm9xbG93ZXJz’ was a reminder of what X-Files used to be: insightful, terrifying and little bit playful.”",
"parent_id": "8188766",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188773",
"author": "rclark",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T15:56:48",
"content": "Just build your own. Then you are in control and would be built/run just the way you/I want it. Why buy? I thought that is what people do here :) ?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188791",
"author": "Jon Smirl",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T16:29:12",
"content": "Espressif has already built this.https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-techpedia/en/latest/esp-friends/solution-introduction/esp-csi/esp-csi-solution.htmlhttps://github.com/espressif/esp-csihttps://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1ui4y1o7fz/It is being added to standard as 802.11bfhttps://www.nist.gov/publications/ieee-80211bf-enabling-widespread-adoption-wi-fi-sensinghttps://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=935175",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188816",
"author": "Gus Mueller",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T17:11:07",
"content": "How easy is it to grab nuanced data about WiFi signal strength from, say an ESP8266 or an ESP32? I’m interested in using such data to triangulate a signal for a device that lacks GPS. The fact that things stepping in the way of the signal are detectable is an added bonus.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188889",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:21:47",
"content": "a few weeks ago they had a similar project using an esp32, so apparently it doesn’t need specialized wifi hardwarehttps://hackaday.com/2025/09/05/heart-rate-monitoring-via-wifi/keep in mind that it’s easy to oversell the information they’re getting. once you know there is a heartbeat, and you have a stream of data from the wifi, you can correlate them and essentially calibrate the wifi as a heartbeat detector. but there’s not a straightforward way to go from a stream of wifi error rates of unknown provenance to knowing exactly what kind of implicit information it contains.",
"parent_id": "8188816",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188907",
"author": "Jeff",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:59:35",
"content": "You may also be keenly interested in this project, found at GitHub at:https://github.com/schollz/find3I am in no way associated with this project. Just a happy end-user.",
"parent_id": "8188816",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188932",
"author": "Oleg",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T20:34:58",
"content": "For WiFi this nuanced data is called Channel State Information (CSI). This data is typically only handled in WiFi Module Firmware. You will need modified firmware to pass this data to userspace, since normal firmware uses it to optimize connectivity and “throws it away” afterwards.Luckily the ESP32 is pretty well supported. It is also commonly used in research. Here is a github repo to get you started:https://github.com/espressif/esp-csi",
"parent_id": "8188816",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188845",
"author": "DionB",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T17:59:37",
"content": "Never had much luck with the wiz bulbs. They need to be a fair distance apart from each other (like, across the room) and will struggle if they’re in metallic light fittings/shades (unsurprisingly). I have a couple of them in pendants over a dining room table. Reliable for basic smart bulb stuff but no dice on the motion sensing. Also they need to be setup through the wiz app. Motion sensing stuff isnt exposed through matter.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188957",
"author": "hue me? no thanks!",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T21:28:25",
"content": "this is a ‘neat’ idea, but not a very wise choice to attempt to implement.if you want motion sensing, use an actual motion sensor (of any variety).it’s be cheaper, more effective and not limited to what some other company allows you to do, or their plans for obsolescence or subscriptions.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189505",
"author": "Unochepassa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T17:15:04",
"content": "+1",
"parent_id": "8188957",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189003",
"author": "forbiddenera",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T23:15:30",
"content": "This is dumb. I literally do HA and smart shit in new homes – how many normal, off the self bulbs do you think new homes have? This one place I’m doing has almostnothingbut strips.Great for people with old homes, but even my 1960s apartment has (ugly) LED replacement fixtures that use strips. I have two lamps with two Wiz each, in the corner of bedroom and living room. So I am almost the ideal customer being in an old home and I still couldn’t use it.I still think it’s cool that they’re doing it though, I wish I could play with it on my Wiz but they’re probably too old and apparently it was discontinued anyway",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189317",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T11:57:19",
"content": "The great thing about strips and other built-in LEDs is that they don’t last very long, or stay the same color/brightness indefinitely, so they eventually start to bug people off with poor light – or they may just die with a single lightning strike nearby, or from poor power quality in general. Bonus points if the fixture is built and installed so that the owner is either unable, unwilling, or legally not allowed to touch it themselves – so they get to hire you to do it.No more replacing bulbs – just pay 10x as much for the handyman to come around every 5-6 years and install brand new lights.",
"parent_id": "8189003",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189168",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T07:13:48",
"content": "There are already light bulbs with embedded PIR or radar sensors on the market.https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/globe-motion-sensor-smart-adjustable-colour-bulb-0522136p.html",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189352",
"author": "rooted",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T13:31:16",
"content": "Linksys did this years ago with their velop mesh system, still cool to see it done with less sophisticated wireless.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189374",
"author": "Sykobee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T14:42:10",
"content": "Yes, I guess that is a logical merging of a smart bulb with a motion detection bulb (which will likely also have dusk-dawn light sensor too, might as well integrate that into the smart messaging).I hate smart stuff and motion detection is a PITA when you want the light on all the time so just went with a plain dusk-to-dawn bulb for my new outdoor lights.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191903",
"author": "Joe",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T23:58:29",
"content": "Now you won’t be able to hide from the SkyNet drones.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,403.715112
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/10/pla-gears-fail-to-fail-in-3d-printed-bicycle-drivetrain/
|
PLA Gears Fail To Fail In 3D Printed Bicycle Drivetrain
|
Tyler August
|
[
"3d Printer hacks",
"Transportation Hacks"
] |
[
"3D printed gears",
"bicycles",
"bike hacks"
] |
Anyone who has ever snapped a chain or a crank knows how much torque a bicycle’s power train has to absorb on a daily basis; it’s really more than one might naively expect. For that reason, [Well Done Tips]’s idea of
3D printing a gear chain from PLA
did not seem like the most promising of hacks to us.
Contrary to expectations, though, it actually worked; at the end of the video (at about 13:25), he’s on camera going 20 km/h, which while not speedy, is faster than we thought the fixed gearing would hold up. The gears themselves, as you can see, are simple spurs, and were modeled in Fusion360 using a handy auto-magical gear tool. The idler gears are held in place by a steel bar he welded to the frame, and are rolling on good old-fashioned skateboard bearings–two each. (Steel ones, not
3D printed bearings
.) The healthy width of the spur gears probably goes a long way to explaining how this contraption is able to survive the test ride.
The drive gear at the wheel is steel-reinforced by part of the donor bike’s cassette, as [Well Done Tips] recognized that the shallow splines on the freewheel hub were not exactly an ideal fit for PLA. He does complain of a squeaking noise during the test ride, and we can’t help but wonder if switching to helical gears might help with that. That or perhaps a bit of lubricant, as he’s currently riding the gears dry. (Given that he, too, expected them to break the moment his foot hit the pedal, we can’t hardly blame him not wanting to bother with grease.)
We’ve
seen studies suggesting
PLA might not be the best choice of plastic for this application; if this wasn’t just a fun hack for a YouTube video, we’d expect nylon would be his best bet. Even then, it’d still be a hack, not a reliable form of transportation. Good thing this isn’t reliable-transportation-a-day!
| 33
| 12
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8190899",
"author": "Hirudinea",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T23:28:47",
"content": "Neat, and even if it won’t last a long time this would be cool on an art bike.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190900",
"author": "scott_tx",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T23:30:37",
"content": "Next step: 5 speed transmission.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190905",
"author": "andrej",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T23:37:56",
"content": "Nice project. Be sure to check comments on yt as there is a lot of interesting stuff about gear types and configurations.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190981",
"author": "echodelta",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T02:17:47",
"content": "No reason you couldn’t use a fancy hub transmission. Dirt and grit is the worst concern use a light synthetic oil that wont be sticky. Avoid mudslinging puddles.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191090",
"author": "Dan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T08:41:33",
"content": "I’d think any grit will make short work of plastic gears?",
"parent_id": "8190981",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191106",
"author": "EEEngineer4Ever",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T11:01:46",
"content": "Synthetic oils will leak and harm the environment. Ordinary cooking oil will also lubricate and it’s natural.",
"parent_id": "8190981",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191207",
"author": "cplamb",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T18:01:31",
"content": "Yes, but it oxidizes and gets gummy much more quickly.",
"parent_id": "8191106",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191231",
"author": "Anonymous",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T19:02:23",
"content": "In my experience it’s really not that big of an issue. Plus nowadays there are additives for vegetable oils that prevent oxidation pretty effectively at low temperatures. A lot of chainsaw oils are just canola oil with a few % of additives. Works well, and I’ve never had my saw gum up from it.",
"parent_id": "8191207",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8192143",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:52:09",
"content": "At this point, just spit on it and get it over with",
"parent_id": "8191106",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191228",
"author": "Thomas Shaddack",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T19:00:56",
"content": "Another option is using a self-lubricating material. PC-PTFE, or PETG-PTFE, are commercially available filaments. Then there are the Iglidur-brand ones.A trick to save cost could be printing just the gear ring, and attach it onto a hub via some sort of splines match. No sliding wear there, just static force transfer. And once the wheels are worn, the ring can be replaced with ease. Experimenting with various tooth profiles also gets easier. Or even milling the tooth ring from metal, as a low-weight alternative to full-metal gear.Thought… could the low-wear surface be electroformed in-situ from nickel or some copper alloy?",
"parent_id": "8190981",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191000",
"author": "Marco",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T03:10:34",
"content": "Get a body part into a bike chain, and you get hurt.Get a body part into that, and you lose it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191152",
"author": "Jan_W",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T14:23:57",
"content": "Shoes, feet and whole legs will be crushed to bits I am sure… Maybe even whole bodies?",
"parent_id": "8191000",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191167",
"author": "Zygo",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T15:43:29",
"content": "PLA gears killed my father, and enslaved my mother",
"parent_id": "8191152",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191198",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T17:35:02",
"content": "So, like spokes?Nerf the world!The injury potential is the best part of this project.",
"parent_id": "8191000",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191232",
"author": "Anonymous",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T19:04:07",
"content": "Get a body part into that, and you lose it.Nah, it would just get mangled, assuming the gears didn’t break instead. At high speeds, the human body is mostly bubblegum. Easy to squish, hard to tear.",
"parent_id": "8191000",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191493",
"author": "EyeRoller",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T09:11:53",
"content": "You’re going to be shocked and appalled by these things called chains.",
"parent_id": "8191000",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191084",
"author": "make piece not war",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T08:00:58",
"content": "If he pedals with constant speed, adding few more gears will transform the bike into a watch.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191145",
"author": "wm",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T13:55:08",
"content": "Why do people do this stuff with PLA /eyerollObviously this is just for the clicks, otherwise they would have used a plastic that can survive outdoor environments.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191234",
"author": "Anonymous",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T19:05:49",
"content": "Because it’s a prototype? I’m not gonna use expensive plastic until I’m sure the design works.",
"parent_id": "8191145",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191326",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T00:09:52",
"content": "i hope it’s not a prototype :)i think the impressive part of this project is the implausibility of it. i believe pla is pretty strong when it’s fresh, and when it’s thick. So the small gears don’t stretch my imagination too much. But even so, that big ‘chainring’ gear in the front is surprising to me. It’s just surprising that it works at all.",
"parent_id": "8191145",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191146",
"author": "Dielectric",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T14:00:57",
"content": "That is a seriously funky frame, but neat that you can remove the chain without cutting it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191266",
"author": "Miles",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T20:19:37",
"content": "Probably for Belt drive, most belts aren’t split.",
"parent_id": "8191146",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191236",
"author": "M. Eric Carr",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T19:17:28",
"content": "Neat. Herringbone gears should work nicely here; they self-center and are much smoother. You can make them by extruding and twisting standard gears, then doing the same thing in the other direction.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191271",
"author": "Süleyman Yasin Dundar",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T20:34:28",
"content": "Herringbone gears typically operate in a unidirectional manner, designed for efficient power transmission in one direction. To make them work in reverse, modifications to the system are necessary.One effective approach is to incorporate a reversible gearbox that allows the motor to rotate in the opposite direction, thereby changing the output direction of the gears. This ensures functionality without altering the herringbone design significantly.Another method involves changing the direction of the input shaft. By using a motor that can switch rotation, you can drive the input shaft in reverse, causing the output to follow suit. Incorporating clutch mechanisms can also be beneficial; these disengage the primary drive and engage a system that facilitates reverse motion.Additionally, combining herringbone gears with other types, such as bevel or worm gears, can allow for reverse operation while still capitalizing on the advantages of the herringbone design. Implementing a gear selector mechanism can enable seamless switching between forward and reverse functionalities as needed.When making these changes, it’s important to consider load ratings and potential wear on the gears due to the different stresses encountered in reverse operation. Careful design and alignment adjustments may be required to ensure the system maintains operational reliability.",
"parent_id": "8191236",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191317",
"author": "Anonymous",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T23:28:49",
"content": "Why would you use ChatGPT to make your posts for you? Don’t you want to have a conversation yourself? I’m not going to respond to a machine.",
"parent_id": "8191271",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192145",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:55:16",
"content": "Maybe some kind of social experiment… I’ve noticed that bot also doppelgangers the usernames of various people",
"parent_id": "8191317",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191267",
"author": "Miles",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T20:21:02",
"content": "‘Simple’ spur gears? Last I knew there was a lot of math in making them work properly.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191319",
"author": "Anonymous",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T23:29:48",
"content": "I mean maybe, maybe not. If you mess up the profile, you’ll get an involute anyways if you run them together long enough. Life finds a way.",
"parent_id": "8191267",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191402",
"author": "Miles",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T05:40:44",
"content": "Touché",
"parent_id": "8191319",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191626",
"author": "mrehorst",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T13:43:13",
"content": "I had a belt driven bike (Priority Continuum Onyx) that used a glass-filled nylon drive/crank pulley. It worked fine and was never an issue. I rode that bike for a few years before I sold it and bought another belt driven bike. I can’t foresee ever going back to chain drive.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191811",
"author": "Watsdesign",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T20:15:37",
"content": "With this other one we are starting to have some contestants for a “PLA gears” race :)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RATcc7wJd8c",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,403.64015
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/10/possibly-the-newest-isa-card/
|
Possibly The Newest ISA Card
|
Al Williams
|
[
"Retrocomputing"
] |
[
"isa bus",
"mass storage",
"sd card"
] |
Back when the IBM PC was new, laying out an ISA board was a daunting task. You probably didn’t have a very fast ‘scope, if you had one at all. Board layout was almost certainly done on a drafting table with big pieces of tape. It was hard for small companies, much less hobbyists, to make a new card. You could buy a prototype board and wirewrap or otherwise put together something, but that was also not for the faint of heart. But with modern tools, something like that is a very doable project and [profdc9] has, in fact,
done it
. The card uses an ATMega328P and provides two SD cards for use as mass storage on an old computer.
The design tries to use parts that won’t be hard to get in the future. At least for a while, yet. There’s capacity for expansion, too, as there is an interface for a Wiznet 5500 Ethernet adapter.
Can you imagine if you could transport this card back to the days when the ISA bus was what you had? Just having a computer fast enough to manipulate the bus would have been sorcery in those days.
We don’t know if you need an ISA mass storage card, but if you do, [profdc9] has you covered. Then again, you do have
options
. Or, if you’d rather take a deep dive into the technology,
we can help there
, too.
| 13
| 6
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8190849",
"author": "Javier",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T20:34:46",
"content": "For a prototype get a broken card,Dremel away the components from the slot connections and solder wires from there to your card in mezzanine,that is how I did a custom card for an EPROM programmer in the 90s, I didn’t know better than that",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190852",
"author": "Cogidubnus Rex",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T20:42:15",
"content": "Heh I did exactly the same at roughly the same time. Still have it and the birds nest of wires somewhere in a box at my parents house.",
"parent_id": "8190849",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190869",
"author": "CJay",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T21:53:32",
"content": "IBM used to do a neat trick with some of their cards, they broke out the ISA bus onto a row of pads above the edge connector which made debugging the bus easier but also allowed you to tack on a proto card.You didn’t need to sacrifice the card either, the ISA bus is pretty simple and as long as you don’t decode to the same address space, IRQ or DMA, you can stack cards in one slot (you obviously had to be conscious of fanout).But these days, I can’t imagine not getting a proto card made to spec by one of the cheap PCB houses",
"parent_id": "8190852",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190944",
"author": "eriklscott",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T00:47:52",
"content": "This is a cool hack. I especially like the convenience of 2 SD cards instead of just one.I have one of these:https://texelec.com/product/picomem/. It works very well – which is good, because it uses an RP2040 and has more power than a truckload of 8088 PCs.Note, I did not specify the size of the truck.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190987",
"author": "paulvdh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T02:36:50",
"content": "ISA was quite easy, you just need a handful of TTL IC’s to do the buffering and some address decoding. But on later many commercial designs those were probably all integrated in some ASIC.But where do you find a PC that still has ISA slots?I also did a quick search for PCI express prototype card and found lots of PCB’s with both a prototyping area and an FPGA to handle the bus traffic. But with the common re-programmability of FPGA’s you can also re-purpose an existing “mass produced” board and modify it to do your own bidding, such as for example:https://hackaday.com/2024/12/07/cheap-fpga-pcie-development/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190998",
"author": "sbrk",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T03:01:30",
"content": "LPC bus adapter. Presto, ISA bus.",
"parent_id": "8190987",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191097",
"author": "iman",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T09:36:36",
"content": "Presto ? I know LPC bus is serializing ISA, but never seen an adapter doing it. Link ?",
"parent_id": "8190998",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191130",
"author": "GotNoTime",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T12:38:07",
"content": "https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=93291",
"parent_id": "8191097",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191329",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T00:13:55",
"content": "i would find a pc like that in my basement :) My friend found it literally in a barn 20 years ago, and now it’s in my basement.",
"parent_id": "8190987",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191027",
"author": "olaf",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T04:55:08",
"content": "It was hard for small companies, much less hobbyists, to make a new cardThat is not true. In the eighties I made my own card for Apple[]+ and PC and I was a school kid at this time. That was not so special!ISA is boring easy!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191143",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T13:37:29",
"content": "Everything is relative.By “hard” it was probably meant that there was no online PCB etching service available at the time.Just like going to local public library was “hard” in retrospect.Or buying and reading printed books and magazines to educate yourself.Everything nowadays is being seen from an always-online perspective, with everything being on your fingertips with zero effort.From that point of view, soldering through-hole components on a veroboard was a total chore, too.In retrospect, I mean. Back then it was perceived differently, we weren’t such “softies” yet and had fun to experiment and to learn through failure, too.A burned finger or hand from tip of a soldering iron was part of the experience.Back then, you had to etch your copper board at home in bathroom using iron-3 chlorid (?) etc.PCB design was either done by drawing everything by hand with a pen,by using photo copies of PCBs shown in magazines or by using software.Eagle Cad for DOS PCs, for example, was popular in Germany of late 80s I think.There also was P-Cad (?) and various shareware/public domain programs for PC or Atari ST/Amiga/C64 etc.ISA/PC-Bus, ECB and Apple II prototyping cards surely had been available too at some point.Printed books also sometimes contained experimental PCBs that had to be populated by the user.They were inside a plastic sleeve that was glued to the inner side of the cover.The 5,25″ or 3,5″ floppy was stored same ways, often. On the other end of the book.This was so-called “bookware”, if memory serves.Likewise, online services and online shopping had existed by the mid-1980s, already.CompuServe, Genie, Minitel (Videotex family) etc.There had been early services that were similar to nowaday’s online experience.It simply just wasn’t the www/internet yet, but commercial/proprietary online services.That sounds limiting, but many mail order companies/travel agencies or banks had offered their service on more than one online service.Of course, this required knowledge. Users had to actually research and inform themselves about current technology at the time.The users had to seek out for information, read news and computer magazines.Or ask their computer vendor/bank/travel agency via phone, at least.There was no oracle of Delphi to ask yet. Or ChatGPT, for the matter.Human interaction did still matter.",
"parent_id": "8191027",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191598",
"author": "slacker24l7",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T13:13:56",
"content": "idk, this article is way over selling everything it says. and it says very little. manually wiring a prototype board? thats how I make pcbs. its about as much work as making it in a schematics program then routing and board layout. then DEBUGGING the board then making the final solution. is about as much work as let me place the components on an actual pcb and wire it up.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191804",
"author": "Gordon Rankin",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T19:37:11",
"content": "I did a number of these in the 80’s using EE Designer III. We even did SMD ISA boards in like 1986.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,403.766492
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/10/a-function-generator-from-the-past/
|
A Function Generator From The Past
|
Jenny List
|
[
"classic hacks",
"Tool Hacks"
] |
[
"function generator",
"magazine",
"XR2206"
] |
It’s always a pleasure to find a hardware hacker who you haven’t seen before, and page back through their work. [Bettina Neumryr]’s niche comes in building projects from old electronics magazines, and her latest, a
function generator from the British
Everyday Electronics
magazine in April
1983, is a typical build.
The project uses the XR2206 function generator chip, a favourite of the time. It contains a current controlled oscillator and waveform shaper, and can easily produce square, triangle, and sine waves. It was always a puzzle back in the day why this chip existed as surely the global market for function generators can’t have been that large, however a little bit of background reading for this write-up reveals that its intended application was for producing frequency-shift-keyed sinusoidal tones.
Yellow-stained boards for the win!
The EE project pairs the XR2206 with an op-amp current generator to control the frequency, and another op-amp as an amplifier and signal conditioner. The power supply is typical of the time too, a mains transformer, rectifier, and linear regulators. There are a pair of very period PCBs supplied as print-outs in the magazine for home etching. This she duly does, though with toner transfer which would have been unheard of in 1983. After a few issues with faulty pots and a miswired switch, she has a working function generator which she puts in a very period project box.
It’s interesting to look at this and muse on what’s changed in electronic construction at our level in the last four decades. The PCB is single sided and has that characteristic yellow of ferric chloride etching, it takes up several times the space achievable with the same parts on the professionally-made dual-sided board designed using a modern PCB CAD package we’d use today. A modern take on the same project would probably use a microcontroller and a DAC, and a small switch-mode supply for less money than that transformer would provide the power. But we like the 1983 approach, and we commend [Bettina] for taking it on. The full video is below the break.
| 9
| 6
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8190824",
"author": "macsimki",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T18:57:10",
"content": "synthesizers use the same kind of chip as a vco.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191096",
"author": "JA",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T09:20:48",
"content": "The XR2206 was never used in a commercial synthesiser to my knowledge. There were some DIY designs, the best know beinghttps://www.birthofasynth.com/Thomas_Henry/Pages/XR-VCO.htmlwhich managed 5 octaves of usable tracking.",
"parent_id": "8190824",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190831",
"author": "SteveS",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T19:18:55",
"content": "I think Jameco (or somebody like that) sold this as a kit back in the day.I have one somewhere in my pile ‘o stuff, I probably put it together int he late 80’s. I think it used these exact boards.I kinda remember pulling it out for something about 5 years ago, and it still worked.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190837",
"author": "tiopepe123",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T19:48:19",
"content": "or MAX038 more powerfull",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191029",
"author": "jpa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T04:59:37",
"content": "Yeah, I built my first function generator from the MAX038 datasheet. It was easy to understand how the chip was used, no programming necessary and single-sided through hole PCB was enough.In some ways I miss the age of ordering weirdly custom ICs listed in paper catalogs.",
"parent_id": "8190837",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190845",
"author": "BT",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T20:12:26",
"content": "This was one of a series of test gear. This and subsequent magazines available here:https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Everyday_Electronics.htm",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190866",
"author": "SteveS",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T21:47:56",
"content": "There was a 6 digit frequency counter everybody built out of one of the Intersil parts, like the 7222 or something like that.The thing did a blazing 5MHz or so",
"parent_id": "8190845",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190878",
"author": "Jeff",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T22:19:23",
"content": "I made that back in 1988. the chip can also be designed into a circuit with modulating inputs and waveform offset voltages. the XR2206 was a very unique chip.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191138",
"author": "danjovic",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T13:11:40",
"content": "Awesome! It brings me back good memories from the time the electronics magazines were available in bookstores.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,403.814718
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/10/hackaday-podcast-episode-341-qualcomm-owns-arduino-steppers-still-dominate-3d-printing-and-google-controls-your-apps/
|
Hackaday Podcast Episode 341: Qualcomm Owns Arduino, Steppers Still Dominate 3D Printing, And Google Controls Your Apps
|
Jenny List
|
[
"Hackaday Columns",
"Podcasts",
"Slider"
] |
[
"Hackaday Podcast"
] |
The nights are drawing in for Europeans, and Elliot Williams is joined this week by Jenny List for an evening podcast looking at the past week in all things Hackaday. After reminding listeners of the upcoming Hackaday Supercon and Jawncon events, we take a moment to mark the sad passing of the prolific YouTuber, Robert Murray-Smith.
Before diving into the real hacks, there are a couple of more general news stories with an effect on our community. First, the takeover of Arduino by Qualcomm, and what its effect is likely to be. We try to speculate as to where the Arduino platform might go from here, and even whether it remains the player it once was, in 2025. Then there’s the decision by Google to restrict Android sideloading to only approved-developer APKs unless over ADB. It’s an assault on a user’s rights over their own hardware, as well as something of a blow to the open-source Android ecosystem. What will be our community’s response?
On more familiar territory we have custom LCDs, algorithmic art, and a discussion of non-stepper motors in 3D printing. Even the MakerBot Cupcake makes an appearance. Then there’s a tiny RV, new creative use of an ESP32 peripheral, and the DVD logo screensaver, in hardware. We end the show with a look at why logic circuits use the voltages they do. It’s a smorgasbord of hacks for your listening enjoyment.
Download yourself an MP3
even without a Hackaday Listeners’ License.
Where to Follow Hackaday Podcast
Places to follow Hackaday podcasts:
iTunes
Spotify
Stitcher
RSS
YouTube
Check
out our Libsyn landing page
Episode 341 Show Notes:
News:
2025 Hackaday Supercon: More Wonderful Speakers
JawnCon Returns This Weekend
Honoring The Legacy Of Robert Murray-Smith
What’s that Sound?
Fill in the form with your best guess
to be entered to win next week.
Interesting Hacks of the Week:
Qualcomm Introduces The Arduino Uno Q Linux-Capable SBC
Google Confirms Non-ADB APK Installs Will Require Developer Registration
Mesmerizing Patterns From Simple Rules
How To Design Custom LCDs For Your Own Projects
[Joey Castillo] on everything about LCDs
Why Stepper Motors Still Dominate 3D Printing
How Your SID May Not Be As Tuneful As You’d Like
Quick Hacks:
Elliot’s Picks:
A Childhood Dream, Created And Open Sourced
Tips For C Programming From Nic Barker
Finding Simpler Schlieren Imaging Systems
Jenny’s Picks:
Building The DVD Logo Screensaver With LEGO
ESP32 Decodes S/PDIF Like A Boss (Or Any Regular Piece Of Hi-Fi Equipment)
Kei Truck Becomes Tiny RV
Can’t-Miss Articles:
Ask Hackaday: Why Is TTL 5 Volts?
The 7400 Quad 2-Input NAND Gate, A Neglected Survivor From A Pre-Microprocessor World
Know Audio: Distortion Part Two
| 1
| 1
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8191041",
"author": "James",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T05:47:52",
"content": "Welcome ADB loader for Android, the solution all the retro emulator people will be using to side load if Google doesn’t back down. It doesn’t exist yet but hopefully we can build it running in Chrome rather than needing an RPI.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,403.974354
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/10/quic-jump-to-user-space/
|
QUIC! Jump To User Space!
|
Al Williams
|
[
"Network Hacks"
] |
[
"QUIC",
"TCP",
"tcp/ip",
"udp"
] |
Everyone knows that Weird Al lampooned computers in a famous parody song (
It’s All About the Pentiums
). But if you want more hardcore (including more hardcore language, so if you are offended by rap music-style explicit lyrics, maybe don’t look this up), you probably want “Kill Dash 9” by
Monzy
. There’s a line in that song about “You thought the seven-layer model referred to a burrito.” In fact, it refers to how networking applications operate, and it is so ingrained that you don’t even hear about it much these days. But as [Codemia] points out,
QUIC aims to disrupt the model, and for good reason
.
Historically, your application (at layer 7) interacts with the network through other layers like the presentation layer and session layer. At layer 4, though, there is the transport layer where two names come into play: TCP and UDP. Generally, UDP is useful where you want to send data and you don’t expect the system to do much. Data might show up at its destination. Or not. Or it might show up multiple times. It might show up in the wrong order. TCP solves all that, but you have little control over how it does that.
When things are congested, there are different strategies TCP can use, but changing them can be difficult. That’s where QUIC comes in. It is like a user-space TCP layer built over a UDP transport. There are a lot of advantages to that, and if you want to know more, or even just want a good overview of network congestion control mitigations, check the post out.
If you want to know more about congestion control,
catch a wave
.
| 18
| 9
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8190776",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T16:16:09",
"content": "Before even looking at this, my immediate impression is that of a BMW taking the shoulder lane when the traffic gets too heavy for their liking.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190777",
"author": "Jon Mayo",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T16:20:12",
"content": "Exposing connection state to layer-4 switch or load balancer or firewall is usually describable. Which isn’t possible when you implement semi-custom protocols on top of UDP.But the problem with TCP always has been that it attempts to generalize a solution to a set of problems that are not general. Most of the time it works very well, but over the decades we’ve ran into one problem or another and have extended TCP in various ways to deal with it.That said, you can run massive websites with very little CPU power over TCP. These production environments are very heavily tuned in order to do what they do. But it does demonstrate taht TCP does get it right in some cases (most cases I’d argue).",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190779",
"author": "daid",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T16:28:09",
"content": "Yeah, this is just another wayland. Ignore decades of tooling and knowledge buildup and instead make network management a mess. If software messes up the tcp protocol, you fire up wireshark and you see what is wrong. When quic messes up you quickly goto tears.",
"parent_id": "8190777",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190839",
"author": "asheets",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T19:49:55",
"content": "I never thought of it this way before. Thanks for the observation from a decidedly old-school guy.",
"parent_id": "8190779",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190959",
"author": "M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T01:23:55",
"content": "Wayland doesn’t ignore decades of tooling and knowledge buildup. It learns from it and realizes a lot of it was a bad idea. The same people are working on wayland as previously spent 30 years working on Xorg because they realized there were large, glaring flows in the Z model that were impossible to fix.Just to pick a couple examples off the top of my head: ever wonder why it’s impossible on X to engage the screensaver while a context menu is open? Or why you can’t change screen brightness or volume levels in a lockscreen?There have been detailed talks given by core Xorg developers on all the ways C is unfixably broken and why wayland is needed going back more than a decade. Here’s one given back in 2013 by one of the three people on earth who understand how the X input stack works:https://youtu.be/RIctzAQOe44?t=1115I’ll skip to the part about “network transparency” specifically. :P",
"parent_id": "8190779",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190960",
"author": "M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T01:24:38",
"content": "X model*",
"parent_id": "8190959",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190962",
"author": "M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T01:25:39",
"content": "X is unfixably broken *real alphabet soup today",
"parent_id": "8190959",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190787",
"author": "joelagnel1",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T17:01:48",
"content": "Yet another project developed by cokeheads at Google who code first and do the design later. It’s likely that it will end up dead, among many other project like Stadia, Glassholes or Web Accelerator.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190857",
"author": "Jack Dansen",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T21:11:21",
"content": "What the heck are you talking about? HTTP/3 is already a standard and already uses QUIC for transport.",
"parent_id": "8190787",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191134",
"author": "Nuno",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T12:48:17",
"content": "Exactly, their browser already uses it and they don’t know it :)",
"parent_id": "8190857",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190800",
"author": "David",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T17:45:24",
"content": "7 layers just reminds me of M.A. Padlipsky and “The Elements of Networking Style”.Having 7 layers just to have 7 layers is silly.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190840",
"author": "asheets",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T19:50:58",
"content": "all people seem to need delicious pizza",
"parent_id": "8190800",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190853",
"author": "Snarkenstein",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T20:59:01",
"content": "I always had the feeling that there were seven layers in the standard model just to have seven layers. Real-life networks don’t really map to all the layers. Pretty sure that’s why you don’t hear much about it these days.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190863",
"author": "William Westfield",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T21:31:13",
"content": "While the 7-layer model is useful as a model, we need to remember that modern networking (ie TCP/IP and related) don’t really follow that 7-layer model very well:1) It never had an “internet” layer.2) you can sort-of fit layers 1-4 (physical through transport) into the model, but the “layers” above transport get very fuzzy, merged, and competitive. (rather similar to the way most filesystems these days don’t go much beyond “byte stream.”)3) naively implementing each layer separately is a sure path to poor performance.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190965",
"author": "Gravis",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T01:30:26",
"content": "Another SPDY. Can’t wait to read about it not being supported by anything anymore.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190966",
"author": "M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T01:31:01",
"content": "classic story. stuff moves into the kernel for speed. stuff moves into userspace libs for control. next there’ll be a QUIC implementation in the kernel for speed, then some other new thing will pop up in userspace. maybe even a replacement for IP in userspace on top of raw sockets. it might help fix the issue with defining a connection in terms of two IPs and two sockets results in the connection breaking when a mobile device changes IP address.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191132",
"author": "Nuno",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T12:47:05",
"content": "No need to wait :https://lwn.net/Articles/1029851/",
"parent_id": "8190966",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191181",
"author": "shinsukke",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T16:44:07",
"content": "It would be slower than raw UDP but also slower than TCP? At least that’s what I’m getting since it works on the layer above TCP/UDP",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,404.038988
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/10/this-week-in-security-id-breaches-code-smell-and-poetic-flows/
|
This Week In Security: ID Breaches, Code Smell, And Poetic Flows
|
Jonathan Bennett
|
[
"Hackaday Columns",
"Security Hacks",
"Slider"
] |
[
"Code Smell",
"CVSS",
"data breach",
"ID verification",
"This Week in Security"
] |
Discord
had a data breach back on September 20th
, via an outsourced support contractor. It seems it was a Zendesk instance that was accessed for 58 hours through a compromised contractor user account. There have been numbers thrown around from groups claiming to be behind the breach, like 1.6 Terabytes of data downloaded, 5.5 million user affected, and 2.1 million photos of IDs.
Discord has pushed back on those numbers, stating that it’s about 70,000 IDs that were leaked, with no comments on the other claims. To their credit, Discord has steadfastly refused to pay any ransom. There’s an interesting question here: why were Discord users’ government issued IDs on record with their accounts?
The answer is fairly simple:
legal compliance
. Governments around the world are beginning to require age verification from users. This often takes the form of a scan of valid ID, or even taking a picture of the user while holding the ID. There are many arguments about whether this is a good or bad development for the web, but it looks like ID age verification is going to be around for a while, and it’ll make data breaches more serious.
In similar news,
Salesforce has announced that they won’t be paying any ransoms
to the group behind the compromise of 39 different Salesforce customers. This campaign was performed by calling companies that use the Salesforce platform, and convincing the target to install a malicious app inside their Saleforce instance.
Unity
[RyotaK] from Flatt Security
found an issue in the Unity game engine
, where an intent could influence the command line arguments used to launch the Unity runtime. So what’s an intent?
On Android, an Intent is an object sent between applications indicating an intention. It’s an intra-process messaging scheme. So the problem here is that when sending an intent to a Unity application on Android, a command line option can be included as an extra option. One of those command line options allows loading a local library by name. Since a malicious library load results in arbitrary code execution, this seems like a pretty big problem.
At first it seems that this doesn’t gain an attacker much. Doesn’t a malicious app already need to be running on the device to send a malicious intent? The reality is that it’s often possible to manipulate an innocent app into sending intents, and the browser is no exception. The bigger problem is that a malicious library must first be loaded into a location from which the Unity app can execute. It’s a reasonably narrow window for practical exploitation, but was still
scores an 8.4 severity
. Unity has released fixes for versions all the way back to 2019.1.
Code Smell: Perl?
We have two stories from WatchTwr, packed full of the sardonic wit we have to expect from these write-ups.
The first is about Dell’s UnityVSA
, a Virtual Storage Appliance that recently received a whole slew of security fixes for CVEs. So WatchTowr researchers took a look at the patch set from those fixes, looking for code smell, and found… Perl?
Turns out it wasn’t the presence of Perl that was considered bad code smell, though I’m sure some would argue that point. It was the
$exec_cmd
variable that wasn’t escaped, and Perl backticks were used to execute that string on the system. Was there a way to inject arbitrary bash commands into that string? Naturally, there is. And it’s a reasonably simple HTTP query to run a command. A security advisory and updated release was published by Dell at the end of July, fixing this issue.
Poetic Flow of Vulnerabilities
There’s
an active exploitation campaign being waged against Oracle E-Business Suite instances
, using a zero-day vulnerability. This exploit works over the network, without authentication, and allows Remote Code Execution (RCE). It appears that a threat group known as Graceful Spider, another great name, is behind the exploitation.
The folks at WatchTowr got their hands on a Proof of Concept, and
have reverse engineered it for our edification
. It turns out it’s a chain of little weaknesses that add up to something significant.
It starts with a Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF), a weakness where a remote service can be manipulated into sending an additional HTTP request on to another URL. This is made more significant by the injection of a Carriage Return/Line Feed (CRLF) attack, that allows injecting additional HTTP headers.
Another quirk of the PoC is that it uses HTTP keep-alive to send all of the malicious traffic down a single HTTP session. And the actual authentication bypass is painfully classic. A
/help
path doesn’t require authentication, and there is no path traversal protection. So the SSRF connection is launched using this
/help/../
pattern, bypassing authentication and landing at a vulnerable
.jsp
endpoint.
That endpoint assembles a URL using the
Host:
header from the incoming connection, and fetches and parses it as an eXtensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) document. And XSL documents are unsafe to load from untrusted sources, because they can lead directly to code execution. It’s a wild ride, and a great example of how multiple small issues can stack up to be quite significant when put together.
Bits and Bytes
Caesar Creek Software
did an audit on a personal medical device
and found issues, but because fixes are still being reviewed by the FDA, we don’t get many details on what exactly this is. Reading between the lines, it sounds like a wearable glucose monitor. It’s based on the nRF52 platform, and the best bit of this research may be using power line fault injection to get Single Wire Debug access to the MCU. They also found what appears to be a remote leak of uninitialized memory, and a Bluetooth Low Energy Man in the Middle attack. Interesting stuff.
And finally, [LaurieWired] has a great intro to the problem of trusting trust with a bit of bonus material on how to build and obfuscate quines while at it. How do you know your compiler binary doesn’t have malware in it? And how do you establish trust again? Enjoy!
| 7
| 4
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8190798",
"author": "limroh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T17:36:45",
"content": "Re: Unity bug.So it’s CVSS=0 for Unity on Windows?I mean if you can change cmdline args you already have as many rights as any normally run unity game – no privilege escalation.Or am I missing some crazy way how eg. a browser can start a locally installed game (with additional arguments) pointing it to the browsers temp folder where malicious code has been stored??Got no replies last week:https://hackaday.com/2025/10/03/this-week-in-security-cvss-0-chwoot-and-not-in-the-threat-model/#comment-8187140",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190820",
"author": "ialonepossessthetruth",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T18:41:49",
"content": "Never needed ID to buy porn or beer, and If Iwantedto be on Discord I suppose I could use QuarkExpress to dummy up a fake ID. BTW, the arrow’s pointing the wrong way.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191088",
"author": "bob",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T08:31:25",
"content": "Yet…..It’s insidious and it’s happening everywhere right at the same time.Almost like a conspiracy theory.",
"parent_id": "8190820",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191142",
"author": "Ewald",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T13:34:16",
"content": "There are perfectly privacy friendly ways to prove that you’re above a certain age that only require sending one bit of information (yes of no); see:https://yivi.app/en/how_yivi_works/The app does not record where it sends that information, so it’s a great design of privacy by default and by design.",
"parent_id": "8191088",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191734",
"author": "Christian",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T17:00:02",
"content": "Android was working on an Government ID api. That API would only send the needed details.The clerk selling smokes only need to see your picture and need to know if you’re 21 or older.But they started to scan the full id, you have to reach over the counter and yank that ID back from the puzzled looking clerk… wait until Walmart or other retailers have a breach, it’ll be raining ID pictures.",
"parent_id": "8190820",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190876",
"author": "Gravis",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T22:18:42",
"content": "As for the video, I’m pretty sure compiling CompCert C compiler (which does formal verification from start to finish) using a compromised compiler would be unable to produce a compromised binary because it would fail the verification steps.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190954",
"author": "targetdrone",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T01:13:23",
"content": "Whoever is contributing names to the bad actors, I wish they’d stop using pleasant, positive or action words like “graceful spider”, “volt typhoon”, or “stealth falcon”.I’d rather every name be chosen to embarrass the group members, not lionize them. “Oh look, it’s Ted, did you hear he’s a member of Stinking Dung-beetle, or maybe it was Whinging Cesspool.” Anything so I don’t have to respect them when talking about them.Of course this might be PsyOps. Someone might be proud to claim to their mates that “did you hear they’re calling us Black Banshee, that’s pretty badass, right?” And if their mates boast about them, well, nothing stays secret forever.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,404.160601
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/10/benchvolt-pd-usb-pd-meets-benchtop-precision/
|
BenchVolt PD: USB PD Meets Benchtop Precision
|
Matt Varian
|
[
"hardware"
] |
[
"power delivery",
"power supply",
"usb c power delivery",
"USB Power Delivery"
] |
USB power has become ubiquitous — everything from phones to laptops all use it — so why not your lab bench? This is what [EEEngineer4Ever] set out to do with the
BenchVolt PD
USB adjustable bench power supply. This is more than just a simple breakout for standard USB PD voltages, mind you; with adjustable voltages, SCPI support, and much more.
The case is made of laser-cut acrylic, mounted to an aluminum base, not only providing a weighted base but also helping with dissipating heat when pulling the 100 W this is capable of supplying. Inside the clear exterior, not only do you get to peek at all the circuitry but there is also a bright 1.9-inch TFT screen showing the voltage, current, and wattage of the various outputs. There is a knob that can adjust the variable voltage output and navigate through the menu. Control isn’t limited to the knob, mind you; there also is a Python desktop application to make it easy changing the settings and to open up the possibility to integrate its control alongside other automated test equipment.
There are five voltage outputs in this supply: three fixed ones—1.8 V, 2.5 V, and 3.3 V—and two adjustable ones: 0.5-5 V and 2.5-32 V. All five of these outputs are capable of up to 3 A. There are also a variety of waveforms that can be output, blurring the lines between power supply and function generator. While the BenchVolt PD will be open-sourced, [EEEngineer4Ever] will soon be releasing it over on
CrowdSupply
for those interested in one without building one themselves. We are big fans of USB PD gear, so be sure to check out some other
USB PD projects
we’ve featured.
| 41
| 12
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8190690",
"author": "Sammie Gee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T11:29:29",
"content": "Nice, thank you for sharing! Been looking for the amateur-level stable bench power supply for some while, maybe this will do just nicely.IMHO, finally, someone figures out that signal generator AND regulated power should have been a standard some long, long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away, where designers work with customers directly, unimpeded by the marketing department fantasies).",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190713",
"author": "syd",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T13:00:09",
"content": "Thanks.",
"parent_id": "8190690",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190918",
"author": "Victor",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T00:01:11",
"content": "You’re welcome (I was at least one of the people who sent this in lol)",
"parent_id": "8190690",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190693",
"author": "Pedro",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T11:33:01",
"content": "Lots of time spent on making it look good while inside it uses the worst, cheapest switching power supply modules from AliExpress which tend to break and burn just from looking at them. A perfect YouTube project.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190712",
"author": "syd",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T12:58:23",
"content": "This is a prototype unit, and on-board DC-DC converters will be used in the batch production. The device offers excellent voltage, current, and temperature monitoring features, and it has been tested for over four months so far.If you follow the project, I’ll also be doing some heavy stress and durability tests soon — then you’ll see how robust it really is.Also, everything is open-source, my friend — you can repair any part yourself or even upgrade the project if you like!",
"parent_id": "8190693",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191019",
"author": "pelrun",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T04:21:35",
"content": "The problem isn’t that the modules are poor quality, it’s that thedesignis extremely old. There’s a reason these modules are widely available and cheap, it’s because there’s a massive surplus of old XL6009 chips that nobody else wants.It’s fine if you want a box filled with cheap and noisy regulators. Not great if you care about the noise and ripple on those outputs (and to be fair, some people don’t.)",
"parent_id": "8190712",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191139",
"author": "EEEnginer4Ever",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T13:17:40",
"content": "Hello thanks for your valuable commend. There is two think here one is there is many other dc dc converters like XL6009 and on production it is not finalized that which componenet will be used at the end, currently i have tested with 2-3 different converters. The other think is there is LDO after DC DC converter and voltages are changed by LDO margining DAC. I am not saying that this power supply has worlds lowest noisy power supply but it is really enough for many applications and better performance than most of the competators. The aim here is having portable and flexible Multi channel supply at low cost and open source for everyone.",
"parent_id": "8191019",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190715",
"author": "Squonk42",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T13:09:36",
"content": "Yeah, for those interested, these are modules based on the XLSEMI XL6009 Buck/Boost DC/DC converter chip:https://www.xlsemi.com/datasheet/XL6109-EN.pdf",
"parent_id": "8190693",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190718",
"author": "Squonk42",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T13:17:39",
"content": "Sorry, this datasheet :https://beriled.biz/data/files/XL6009.pdf",
"parent_id": "8190715",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190725",
"author": "limroh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T13:37:55",
"content": "Can someone please counter this with good reasoned arguments?!Because when I saw the image and looked closer I came to a similar conclusion and that’s a bit depressing (the existence of the video at all + that it was featured on HaD).",
"parent_id": "8190693",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190728",
"author": "EEEngineer4Ever",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T13:47:00",
"content": "This is a prototype unit, and high quality tested on-board DC-DC converters used in the batch production. The device offers excellent voltage, current, and temperature monitoring features for reliablity and it has been tested for over four months so far.If you follow the project, I’ll soon be running heavy stress and durability tests — so you’ll get to see just how robust it really is.The project is fully open-source — everyone will have access to it. Complete instructions will be provided so that anyone can easily repair, modify, or even upgrade the project themselves!In electronics, if something fails, it usually means you are exceeding the electrical specifications of a component or not cooling it properly. With good engineering, creating a reliable design isn’t actually that difficult.",
"parent_id": "8190693",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190748",
"author": "Süleyman Yasin Dundar",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T14:36:35",
"content": "In electronics, if something fails, it usually means you are exceeding the electrical specifications of a component or not cooling it properly. With good engineering, creating a reliable design isn’t actually that difficult.",
"parent_id": "8190693",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190696",
"author": "BT",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T11:48:09",
"content": "There is a knob that can adjust the variable voltage output and navigate through the menu.What could possibly go wrong?!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190734",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T13:58:49",
"content": "Man like 10 years ago i got an oscope and a bench supply that each had (roughly) one knob per function. i’m never going back. People talk about all of these specs and features and it turns out, that’s the one i care about on my bench",
"parent_id": "8190696",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190771",
"author": "EEEngineer4Ever",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T16:06:31",
"content": "The knob is not the only way to make adjustments — there’s also a Python-based UI that lets you control everything.",
"parent_id": "8190696",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190772",
"author": "Engineer4Ever",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T16:07:47",
"content": "The knob is not the only way to make adjustments — there’s also a Python-based UI that lets you control everything.",
"parent_id": "8190696",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190733",
"author": "robomonkey",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T13:58:48",
"content": "Yeah, let me just plug that into my laptop and drive the voltages!He’s showing it with nothing under load. Unless it’s programmed to shut down past a certain current level it’s a fire hazard waiting to happen.can’t say I like the interface. Too small and with the knob…as mentioned above “what could possibly go wrong”Hard Pass",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190738",
"author": "syd_",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T14:12:45",
"content": "The device offers excellent voltage, current, and temperature monitoring features, and it has been tested for over four months so far.If you follow the project, I’ll soon be running heavy stress and durability tests under load — so you’ll get to see just how robust it really is.The project is fully open-source — everyone will have access to it. Complete instructions will be provided so that anyone can easily repair, modify, or even upgrade the project themselves!",
"parent_id": "8190733",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190751",
"author": "Süleyman Yasin Dundar",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T14:45:50",
"content": "The system continuously monitors parameters like instantaneous current flow, overvoltage, and temperature. The MCU only allows power delivery over PD when everything is within safe operating limits — so risks like overload or fire simply don’t exist.",
"parent_id": "8190733",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190753",
"author": "Süleyman Yasin Dundar",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T14:55:19",
"content": "The components are thermally optimized — using many vias and a thermal pad to efficiently transfer heat to the aluminum base below. This allows the device to operate under load while staying within safe power limits.Temperature is also continuously monitored. I’ll be sharing some under-load test videos soon — thanks a lot for your feedback!",
"parent_id": "8190733",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190991",
"author": "Clara Hobbs",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T02:49:40",
"content": "Beyond everything the author wrote already, it’s worth pointing out that this is of course a USB PD sink, taking its power from a USB PD source, which itself already provides overcurrent protection.",
"parent_id": "8190733",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190746",
"author": "Pat",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T14:34:03",
"content": "This… has a lot of concerning issues given that you could be supplying alotof current.The adjustable output 1 uses an LDO, but it follows a super-basic totally unshielded switcher, and that isnoteasy to make low noise. It’ll cut down on the ripple, sure, but noise is more than ripple and without a doubt the switching transients will cut right through the LDO. Which isn’t easy to measure either.The overall physical architecture just doesn’t work for low noise either. Just trace the input and return current path for the adjustable output: the input’s gotta flow along the top, which is going to be right under where the LDO is, so you’re not going to get the full PSRR from the LDO just due to the ground currents.There’s another subtle issue too: you’ve got a bunch of separate outputs + a single ground at the end. And you’re talking about supplying like 10+ amps there. Think about that last power supply closest to the ground output. It’s normally sitting there seeing like 5-6 amps coming in the ground connector plus its own. And then at some point you unplug the first supplies… and all that current disappears and you get a shift due to the overall finite resistance. Single ground input just doens’t make sense when you’ve got multiple outputs and that much current.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190752",
"author": "Süleyman Yasin Dundar",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T14:51:28",
"content": "Hey, really appreciate you taking the time to dig into the details — that’s the kind of feedback that actually helps projects move forward.You’re absolutely right about the grounding and current return considerations. Adding an extra ground terminal or local return paths for each channel would definitely improve the overall current handling and minimize voltage shifts across high-current traces.Noise-wise, yes — a single LDO after an unshielded switcher won’t magically remove all transients. The current setup already includes RC filtering and ground-plane isolation between channels, but there’s still room for refinement, especially for people who’ll use it in precision setups.That’s the great part about open hardware — every iteration can get a bit smarter based on this kind of insight. Thanks for pointing it out!",
"parent_id": "8190746",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191516",
"author": "Pavel Melnikov",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T09:53:12",
"content": "Even without high currents, single GND is simply inconvenient. Imagine you want to power several devices, each with its own GND wire, and you only have one GND socket on PSU. Very bad design choice in my view.",
"parent_id": "8190746",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190747",
"author": "Süleyman Yasin Dundar",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T14:35:26",
"content": "The device offers voltage, current, and temperature monitoring features for reliablity, and it has been tested for over four months so far. If you follow the project, some heavy stress and durability tests coming soon. Also, everything is open-source anyone can repair any part yourself or even upgrade the project if you like!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190770",
"author": "CE",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T16:03:53",
"content": "While the BenchVolt PD will be open-sourcedI’m not sure why we should take the claim seriously. The project page appears to simply dissimulate, with “Open Source: – Python UI – Firmware – Schematics”, and then comments asking for schematics and being told they would be released “soon”, almost a year ago (of note to those wondering about noise: there are also comments expressing disbelief at the large amount of noise shown there). The maker even brazenly states “This project is completely open source, including hardware, firmware, and the GUI, so it’s accessible to everyone.” in Dec 2024, while not releasing anything.The crowdsupply page, under a large “Open Source” heading, claims the project “is open-source”, then gives details that are clearly not open source:nosources are available, but they “intend” to make sources available “after supporters receive their products”. Finding any more information is a bit difficult; the maker’s website doesn’t actually exist, for example.The HaD reporting quietly changes the claim to one that is not simply wrong, in pointing out the the project isnotopen source, but will be in the future, if the maker’s claims are to be believed. But given the dishonest way this appears to have been expressed throughout the project, it is difficult to trust that the sources will ever be available.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190860",
"author": "Süleyman Yasin Dundar",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T21:23:25",
"content": "This is a prototype unit that will utilize on-board DC-DC converters during mass production. The device provides exceptional features for monitoring voltage, current, and temperature, and it has undergone testing for more than four months.If you keep an eye on the project, I’ll soon conduct rigorous stress and durability tests, showcasing its true robustness. Additionally, everything is open-source, allowing you to repair any component yourself or even enhance the project if you wish!",
"parent_id": "8190770",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191133",
"author": "EEEnginer4Ever",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T12:47:25",
"content": "I’m sorry to hear that you feel this way. As you can imagine, completing a project like this takes time. If you look at many other projects on Crowd Supply, you’ll see that it’s quite common for the design files and code to be released gradually during the campaign process.The project has been live on Crowd Supply for just about a week, and I’ll be releasing the block diagram, schematics, and both the Python UI and firmware code before the campaign ends. I have to do that anyway — there’s nothing to hide here.I’m honestly not sure why it gave the impression of being secretive; that was never the intention. This isn’t some overly complex or unachievable project. As for the output noise you mentioned, I’ll be sharing proper measurements under load soon ( in 30-45 days)Since the entire project is being handled by a single person, some details naturally take time to prepare and present. I’m sorry if that caused any disappointment.",
"parent_id": "8190770",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190775",
"author": "EEEngineer4Ever",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T16:10:36",
"content": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyJbAp0etwMMaybe this video will help you better understand the project.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190793",
"author": "KDawg",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T17:24:09",
"content": "While I think the critiques are a little hard whats starting to become alerting is the same defense coming from like 3 different usernamesEEEngineer4EverSüleyman Yasin Dundarsyd_",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190802",
"author": "EEEngineer4Ever",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T17:51:14",
"content": "I’m a member of Hackaday.io, but when I first tried to comment there, my comments didn’t appear. I tried several times and wasn’t sure why, but after a while my posts started going through. That’s why you have seen different names.",
"parent_id": "8190793",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190871",
"author": "LordNothing",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T21:54:26",
"content": "Next time before you record a video please shave have your… hands. That’s disgusting.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190889",
"author": "EEEngineer4Ever",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T22:56:29",
"content": "Thank you for your seciencetific comment.",
"parent_id": "8190871",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191334",
"author": "N/A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T00:22:05",
"content": "Not sure what I enjoy more, the thoughtful testing being done or the professional wit of your responses. Keep up the good work.",
"parent_id": "8190889",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190894",
"author": "Mark",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T23:20:34",
"content": "Cool project dude thanks for sharing. Ignore all the trolls and haters. They just sucking air.",
"parent_id": "8190871",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190911",
"author": "rooted",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T23:45:25",
"content": "If you’re going to front a project you have to have thick skin, if not the naysayers will get to you.",
"parent_id": "8190894",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190968",
"author": "Piecutter",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T01:42:43",
"content": "The comment section is filled with cheetle dusted neckbeards with questionable bathing regimens. I’m sure the appearance of his hands will go largely unnoticed.",
"parent_id": "8190871",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191507",
"author": "Iman",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T09:40:40",
"content": "From the Crowdsupply page:“BenchVolt PD is open-source and we intend to release firmware, hardware schematics, and the Python UI to the public after supporters receive their products from Crowd Supply.”So it´s open-source but there is no source released ?I smell BS on that one… AFTER you buy you might get the source… we all believe it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192036",
"author": "ImmaNueo",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T03:18:45",
"content": "How is the number of point is 1024 but turn out to be 12 bits? Typo or something that we dont know about?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192118",
"author": "EEEnginer4Ever",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T07:52:27",
"content": "Number of points and resolution are different things think again ;)",
"parent_id": "8192036",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
}
] | 1,760,371,404.235339
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/12/pvc-pipe-structure-design-that-skips-additional-hardware/
|
PVC Pipe Structure Design That Skips Additional Hardware
|
Donald Papp
|
[
"green hacks"
] |
[
"CINTRE",
"PVC",
"salvaged",
"structural"
] |
[Baptiste Marx] shares his take on designing emergency structures using PVC pipe in a way that requires an absolute minimum of added parts.
CINTRE
(French, English coverage article
here
) is his collection of joint designs, with examples of how they can be worked into a variety of structures.
Basic joints have many different applications.
PVC pipe is inexpensive, widely available, and can often be salvaged in useful quantities even in disaster areas because of its wide use in plumbing and as conduits in construction. It can be cut with simple tools, and once softened with heat, it can be re-formed easily.
What is really clever about [Baptiste]’s designs is that there is little need for external fasteners or hardware. Cable ties are all that’s required to provide the structural element of many things. Two sawhorse-like assemblies, combined with a flat surface, make up a table, for example.
Soda bottles made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) are also common salvage and can be
used as surprisingly sturdy heat-shrink
and even
turned into twine or rope
; perhaps that could be an option if one doesn’t even have access to cable ties.
| 28
| 10
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8191744",
"author": "CityZen",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T17:15:22",
"content": "I suppose you have to choose your zip ties carefully, since some get brittle and break after a while.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191857",
"author": "Miles",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T22:11:37",
"content": "There are metal strap ties, possibly could even use wire.",
"parent_id": "8191744",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192270",
"author": "Slugsie",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T13:04:47",
"content": "These are designs for Emergency structures. They need to last weeks not years.",
"parent_id": "8191744",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191748",
"author": "Sven Hapsbjorg",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T17:17:20",
"content": "During an emergency I’d rather smoke a joint to keep me calm.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191751",
"author": "Anonymous",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T17:32:35",
"content": "Healthier than PVC fumes, too.",
"parent_id": "8191748",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191883",
"author": "Teal Warrior",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T23:21:56",
"content": "Ditto 😊",
"parent_id": "8191748",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192035",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T03:17:02",
"content": "I never understood how rasta anxiety and paranoia cigarettes did that for people. Doesn’t work the same way for me I guess",
"parent_id": "8191748",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192229",
"author": "Greg Mathews",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T11:59:50",
"content": "PROTIP: grow your own weed, not that dealer crap sprinkled with spice and other synths.",
"parent_id": "8192035",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8192178",
"author": "Steve-OH",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T10:25:13",
"content": "People have been doing this with bamboo since forever. You can bend it with heat, and lash poles together with cord made from whatever appropriate fiber you have handy in your location.",
"parent_id": "8191748",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192189",
"author": "Conor Stewart",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T10:44:14",
"content": "People have been doing this with all kinds of materials forever.I don’t see how it being made of PVC pipe is much of a benefit here. If you can find enough long enough pieces it may be practical but to get long pieces you would likely have to go and pull it out of intact buildings, destroyed buildings are probably pretty unlikely to have long straight sections of PVC pipe. Also the amount of pipe needed almost makes it impractical, to build a reasonable shelter like shown you would need quite a lot of pipe.",
"parent_id": "8192178",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191752",
"author": "Anonymous",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T17:39:19",
"content": "As long as that stuff stay out of sunlight, it’ll be fine. If not, those cable ties will eventually break.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191980",
"author": "Kdawg",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T02:31:30",
"content": "I would imagine if one is in the situations where uc exposure to the zip ties would be a problem then more permanent solutions would be in the works",
"parent_id": "8191752",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191783",
"author": "brian",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T18:54:53",
"content": "Didn’t read article, so perhaps I am missing something. Adding complexity to a problem that would seem to be already solved. PVC piping joints are available in in many angular combinations and vertex counts.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191789",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T19:12:59",
"content": "The idea is that you can make fancy looking joints from just PVC pipe without having to go to the hardware store to find those fittings.For the point of disaster area relief, this method is just a more time consuming version of lashing together lengths of PVC pipe or any other sticks with rope or wire. The point is the design, not the utility – all design just needs an excuse for some reason.",
"parent_id": "8191783",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191786",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T19:00:28",
"content": "Oh dear, it’s that core77 site again. That thing eats up ram – I’ve never been able to load it up without crashing the browser.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191808",
"author": "Johan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T19:51:27",
"content": "Made a snapshot with archive.is, this seems to make it readable…https://archive.is/1FSN8",
"parent_id": "8191786",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191838",
"author": "Aaron C.",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T21:34:25",
"content": "Apparently the core77 link entirely crashes Firefox if left open.Chromium/webkit browsers seem unaffected.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191854",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T22:04:14",
"content": "It causes a very rapid memory leak that eats up tens of gigabytes in just couple minutes.",
"parent_id": "8191838",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191889",
"author": "Yaks-shaved-while-u-wait",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T23:29:10",
"content": "Bes",
"parent_id": "8191854",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191891",
"author": "Yaks-shaved-while-u-wait",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T23:32:33",
"content": "Shh!! don’t tell them. Better that we complain here, quietly amongst ourselves :)",
"parent_id": "8191854",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192172",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T10:11:48",
"content": "I would, but I’m unable to open the site to check their contact information.Then again, I don’t care that much.",
"parent_id": "8191891",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191864",
"author": "Thinkerer",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T22:20:50",
"content": "Shelter? Cute. I don’t see any reference to wind loading capacity/snow roof load etc. What I do see is the rediscovery that PVC pipe can be bent with a bit of heat, layered in with artist’s statements and a student project.“I base my practice on contextualized object design,” he writes. “Sensitive to an aesthetic resulting from materials and manufacturing processes, I favor an experimental and reflective approach, where research occupies a central place. Between sensitive and technical creations, I seek to develop a multidisciplinary and conscious design.”*” CINTRE responds to this emergency by offering a system that allows shelters to be built quickly while guaranteeing long-term safety and dignity.”PVC tubing/tarp portable garages (which this is copied from) can be gotten through the usual sources and will likely be more sturdy. Long-term safety is absolutely not going to happen with this. Likely dignity will go out in the wind and rain as well.(*If you want preposterous artist statements you can make your own withhttps://www.artybollocks.com/)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191984",
"author": "KDawg",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T02:34:41",
"content": "Cute ill remember this when the shit hits the fan never mind the thousands of feet of wire at hand one could use to lash shit to other shit, we will just scamper down to harbor freight and buy a few dozen bags of zip ties",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192141",
"author": "Anonbob",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:49:57",
"content": "Surely you already have a few dozen bags of zip ties if you’re talking about concepts like sthf.",
"parent_id": "8191984",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8192038",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T03:19:08",
"content": "It’s easy to talk smack about this as if it’s intended to be permanent and sensible (it’s not, it’s more akin to an art project) but experimenting like this is actually a very good design exercise.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192177",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T10:20:31",
"content": "Yep. Some of the joints make sense, like flattening the tube and wrapping it around into a T-joint. That’s harder to do neatly by other means.Noodling around with PVC pipes doesn’t need to be about excuses like disaster relief though. For the engineering minded, just coming up with novel ways to join pieces together is enough. That is the value of the exercise.",
"parent_id": "8192038",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192185",
"author": "Conor Stewart",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T10:40:10",
"content": "Often, especially in companies and universities you need to justify what you are doing and the popular options for that are to just say it is for search and rescue or disaster relief and it will be much more likely to get approved or funded.Like medical researchers claiming loads of things may be potential cancer drugs with only a very loose connection just to get more funding.It’s sad that we have gotten to this stage but you have to do what you have to do. Engineering just for the sake of coming up with something new and interesting is not much of a thing anymore, everything needs potential applications and the more it is to do with helping people the better.",
"parent_id": "8192177",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8192296",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T14:01:21",
"content": "ughi know a guy. He’s very old now. He’s lived on the same land for about 50 years. To get to his main house, you have to walk by his first house, a little cabin that collapsed because of no cross-bracing. And then you walk by a dog kennel that collapsed because of no cross-bracing. Beside his barn, he put a giant plastic rain barrel to collect the runoff from the barn’s roof, which is raised up on stilts so it has enough head to reach his garden. The stilts are all wocker-jawed because of a complete lack of cross-bracing.One day i’m there helping him build a new platform under the existing platform for that rain barrel, and he doesn’t want to use cross-bracing for that either! In his mind, he would just use bigger pieces of lumber and it wouldn’t need cross-bracing. We almost came to blows.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,404.1147
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/12/tubeless-x-ray-runs-on-patience/
|
Tubeless X-Ray Runs On Patience
|
Al Williams
|
[
"Science"
] |
[
"americium-241",
"x-ray"
] |
Every time we check in on [Project326], he’s doing something different with X-rays. This week, he has a
passive X-ray imager
. On paper, it looks great. No special tube is required and no high voltage needed. Actually, no voltage is needed at all. Of course, there’s no free lunch. What it does take is a long time to produce an image.
While working on the “easy peasy X-ray machine,” dental X-ray film worked well for imaging with a weak X-ray source. He found that the film would also detect exposure to americium 241. So technically, not an X-ray in the strictest sense, but a radioactive image that uses gamma rays to expose the film. But to normal people, a picture of the inside of something is an X-ray even when it isn’t.
What was odd was that he tried three different sources with different materials, and only the Americium made an impression on the film. However, of the three samples, the Americium was the weakest. However, some measurements show that the spectrum of the gamma ray emission for each material is quite different. Clearly, the film was sensitive to a narrow range of gamma rays.
Compared to the previous makeshift X-ray tube, which was weak, the radioactive material emitted just a fraction of that tube’s output. He estimates that the americium, which you can rescue from smoke detectors or repair parts for them, emits less than 1% compared to the tube. He uses twelve of them, however, so the total output should be around 10%.
The image of an IC is impressive. But it also took two days of exposure. Not sure if this would be practical, but if you need imaging after the apocalypse, salvaged smoke detectors and dental film might be what you need.
The upper part of the machine, made from machined copper, looks impressive. It does, however, require some maintenance. We might have been tempted to put some sort of sealant over the copper. The story of how it came to exist isn’t your usual sponsorship story, either.
You might have better luck with the previous
X-ray machine
. Or bite the bullet, get a real X-ray tube, generate about 70 kV, and
make a real one
.
| 5
| 3
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8191690",
"author": "Thinkerer",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T15:25:55",
"content": "Project 326 (and their excellently snarky machine narrative) are on the verge of re-inventing field fluoroscopy/image intensifier imaging provided they give up the use of film and use a cheap image intensifier (or even a good CCD) imaging system.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191943",
"author": "pelrun",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T00:54:03",
"content": "Would like pointers to where these “cheap image intensifiers” are that don’t require being in the US and having access to it’s surplus market…",
"parent_id": "8191690",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191704",
"author": "helge",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T15:55:06",
"content": "The cool kids use pyroelectric lithium tantalate (yes to vacuum, no to the heater)https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-15436-4",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191929",
"author": "Clyde",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T00:34:13",
"content": "Isn’t the heater required for LiTaO3 to emit xrays?",
"parent_id": "8191704",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8192059",
"author": "John Sullivan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T04:53:51",
"content": "When I was working for a museum as a photographer we made Beta Radiographs of watermarks on paper. we had a plastic plate 2 inches square that had been exposed to radiation. It emitted Beta rays. With the plate in place and a piece of X ray film on the other side of the paper an exposure could be made. It took about 5 hours but the result after processing the film, was a sort of X Ray of the paper. Useful for scholars because it cut through and printing on the paper.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,404.279441
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/12/removing-infill-to-make-3d-printed-parts-much-stronger/
|
Removing Infill To Make 3D Printed Parts Much Stronger
|
Maya Posch
|
[
"3d Printer hacks"
] |
[
"3d printing",
"FDM",
"finite element analysis"
] |
When it comes to FDM 3D prints and making them stronger, most of the focus is on the outer walls and factors like their layer adhesion. However, paying some attention to the often-ignored insides of a model can make a lot of difference in its mechanical properties. Inspired by a string of [Tom Stanton] videos,
[3DJake] had a poke at
making TPU more resilient against breaking when stretched and PLA resistant to snapping when experiencing a lateral force.
Simply twisting the TPU part massively increased the load at which it snapped. Similarly, by removing the infill from the PLA part before replacing it with a hollow cylinder, the test part also became significantly more resilient. A very noticeable result of hollowing out the PLA part: the way that it breaks. A part with infill will basically shatter. But the hollowed-out version remained more intact, rather than ripping apart at the seams. The reason? The hollow cylinder shape is printed to add more walls inside the part. Plus cylinders are naturally more able to distribute loads.
All of this touches on load distribution and designing a component to cope with expected loads in the best way possible. It’s also the reason why
finite element analysis
is such a big part of the CAD world, and something which we may see more of in the world of consumer 3D printing as well in the future.
If you want stronger prints, be sure to check out
brick layers
. Or, consider adding
a little something extra
.
| 20
| 6
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8191560",
"author": "pelrun",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T11:21:46",
"content": "It’s well known (but worth repeating) that infill contributes little to the overall strength of a part. Wall thickness is overwhelmingly the major factor.Infill is predominantly just internal support for the overhanging layers on the top of the part.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191625",
"author": "hjf",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T13:43:10",
"content": "just like structural tubing but for different reasons.",
"parent_id": "8191560",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191637",
"author": "LookAtDaShinyShiny",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T13:58:55",
"content": "there are other design techniques that you can use to add ‘wall infill’ that’s not infill and part of the walls but no practical way to do it outside of the CAD app and in the slicer atm. you put a really thin notch cut in the wall that ends X wall widths (to match your wall count) away from the opposite edge. It’s like 0.1-0.2mm wide and this has the effect of allowing the wall path to traverse the model internally. as far as the slicer is concerned the walls aren’t touching but it is placing the walls physically close enough that they bond to each other. As I say though, not particularly practical outside of cad app but can be used to strengthen parts.I think it highlights the issue with actual infill, where it’s not really printed as part of the model, it’s printed as an afterthought, it’s barely attached to the walls (15-30% overlap) which in itself can cause skin artifacts.",
"parent_id": "8191560",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191670",
"author": "Jan_W",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T14:54:46",
"content": "Have you got a link to a blog post / pic / video? I don’t fully understand :)",
"parent_id": "8191637",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191714",
"author": "Dave_at_large",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T16:22:41",
"content": "Yeah no real idea what this is describing.",
"parent_id": "8191670",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191922",
"author": "Frank",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T00:23:27",
"content": "In the CAD app insert a .05mm gap ( eg tall skinny rectangle pocket cut ) in the wall of the cylinder length wise. Printer will fill in the gap but slicer will think not connected so no infill.",
"parent_id": "8191714",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191938",
"author": "pelrun",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T00:42:29",
"content": "It’s a trick to manipulate the slicer into putting more walls into what would otherwise be a solid part.If you put a big hole or a slot in a part, the slicer will obviously faithfully trace around it. But it will also do the same thing if you make the slot narrower and narrower until it’s almost but not completely closed up – the geometry still says there need to be walls there, but there’s not really any hole anymore.The slicer will still trace around such a thing, putting a big rib in the part which would have otherwise just been infill.",
"parent_id": "8191714",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191716",
"author": "m1ke",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T16:27:40",
"content": "Reminds me of how I’ve seen large pre-made concrete slabs that have egg shaped tunnels going through their middle. I have been able to add strength to prints by adding negative objects at the right place, effectivly placing more walls inside the print and increasing wall thickness.",
"parent_id": "8191670",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191717",
"author": "m1ke",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T16:28:47",
"content": "Whoops, didn’t mean to reply to this post.",
"parent_id": "8191716",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191674",
"author": "Anth-O-Knee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T15:04:05",
"content": "Unless you use 100% infill?",
"parent_id": "8191560",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191939",
"author": "pelrun",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T00:45:40",
"content": "Sure, but 100% infill wastes a lot of plastic (and print time) for not very much benefit. And it can actually perform worse than hollow structures in certain kinds of situations (cracks can propagate further in a homogeneous material but would be interrupted if encountering a void.)",
"parent_id": "8191674",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191742",
"author": "Gravis",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T17:08:47",
"content": "The video’s suggestion that it should be part of a slicer is an interesting. It would be interesting to see an attempt to add a fully automated version that optimizes infill densities and locations. I wouldn’t hold my breath for free slicers to add this due to the high level of complexity but I could see it being a paid software feature or a paid plugin for free-software.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191961",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T02:09:14",
"content": "The suggestion is so interesting to developers that people have built this already, it’s just not automated. Many slicers allow placement of geometric primitives.As for automation, several infill types are designed to to this, though dynamic allocation hasn’t made it to any mainstream slicer yet. The gyroid infill is an example of a non-dynamic structure intended to add strength.Paid software? So far no paid slicer provides more advanced features than the open source ones. Maybe you are thinking of custom gcode generated by engineers whohappento be working on high end commercial systems? Even then it’s rarely cutting edge stuff, just lots of man hours.",
"parent_id": "8191742",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192235",
"author": "PEBKAC",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T12:23:27",
"content": "Y’all reminded me of this old HaD articlehttps://hackaday.com/2019/02/06/finite-element-analysis-results-in-smart-infill/We just need to sprinkle in some trendy AI that guesses which directions the print should be strong in…",
"parent_id": "8191961",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191763",
"author": "IIVQ",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T18:09:13",
"content": "My association had an 100-year old steel sailing ship. After adding several braces into the hold, the ship almost tore itself apart in rough weather. The braces were quickly removed.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191963",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T02:10:57",
"content": "Before or after it sank? /sThis is a good reminder that everybody forgets to run me stress calculations sometimes.",
"parent_id": "8191763",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191840",
"author": "Zachary W Williams",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T21:35:18",
"content": "That’s tpu and it’s doesn’t count.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191965",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T02:12:40",
"content": "You clearly didn’t watch the video, it’s both a joke and a case study.",
"parent_id": "8191840",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8192284",
"author": "Maave",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T13:22:21",
"content": "so it’s a more than just “add more walls”. We already have that setting. Curved inner perims made a difference in strength, so Arachne (variable extrusion width) helps fit curved paths into square corners. The pathing matters, similar to continuous-path printing",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192301",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T14:24:58",
"content": "Wish the numbers were presented instead of smeared across minutes of boring video so that i could decide for myself if the difference is significant.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,404.333047
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/12/the-subtle-art-of-letterform-design/
|
The Subtle Art Of Letterform Design
|
Donald Papp
|
[
"Art"
] |
[
"design",
"font",
"typeface",
"typography"
] |
Typeface
(such as
Times New Roman
) refers to the design that gives a set of letters, numbers, and symbols their signature “look”.
Font
, on the other hand, is a specific implementation of a typeface, for example,
Times New Roman Italic 12 pt
.
‘Q’ is a counterpoint to the idea that typography is just one fussy detail after another.
Right about this point, some of you are nodding along and perhaps thinking “oh, that’s interesting,” while the rest of you are already hovering over your browser’s Back button. If you’re one of the former, you may be interested in checking out
the (sort of) interactive tour of typography design elements
by the Ohno Type School, a small group that loves design.
On one hand, letters are simple and readily recognizable symbols. But at the same time, their simplicity puts a lot of weight on seemingly minor elements. Small changes can have a big visual impact. The tour lays bare answers to questions such as: What is the optimal parting of the cheeks of a capital ‘B’? At what height should the crossbar on an ‘A’ sit, and why does it look so weird if done incorrectly? And yet, the tail of a ‘Q’ can be just about anything? How and why does an ‘H’ define the spacing of the entire typeface? All these (and more) are laid bare.
Font design in the hardware world is often constrained by display or memory limitations, but artistry in typography is still something that we’ve seen expressed in many different and wonderful ways over the years. For example, we covered
a typeface whose symbols are not letters, but scope traces
. And one enterprising fellow generated
a new font (Avería) based on the average of every other font
installed on his computer. The result was surprisingly attractive.
| 12
| 7
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8191471",
"author": "Steve",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T08:31:33",
"content": "I’m glad you covered this and I’m going to explore further. I didn’t realize there was a difference between typeface and font.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191510",
"author": "tiopepe123",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T09:44:02",
"content": "Orhttps://hackaday.com/2024/12/24/a-twenty-segment-display-artistically/beautiful display",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191525",
"author": "tiopepe123",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T10:10:02",
"content": "Sorry this originalhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTB5XhjbgZA",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191605",
"author": "Brian",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T13:19:33",
"content": "If this stuff interests you at all, or maybe even if it doesn’t, you’d do well to check out this video by Struthless:https://youtu.be/WVfRxFwVHQc?si=9voTCgd_jFjF-Xk7The title is “I promise this story about fonts is interesting” and the man does not lie. It’s a fantastic watch.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191669",
"author": "PWalsh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T14:50:51",
"content": "Lots of people like Comic Sans as a font, and of course typographers hate it, and have a long list of reasonswhythey hate it.This got me to wondering whether there are aspects in the Comic Sans font that make it more readable, or more pleasant to read. The rounded ends of lines might not be as subtly jarring on the visual cortex, or the non-symmetric letters might provide better recognition (because the non-symmetry makes them unique) than symmetric ones, or maybe the font is more the “average” of all the other fonts, and so more easily is recognized by the higher level visual levels.Font choice has consequences. I remember about a decade back when screens first started to appear in vehicles, and it was discovered that you could replace the font the manufacturers were using with a different font that was more readable, it would reduce accidents. A tiny improvement in the speed of recognition among readers translates, on average, to less time your eyes spend away from looking at the road. (I don’t remember which fonts.)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191848",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T21:54:19",
"content": "Comic sans is the “handwritten” font that people use to make text appear more informal and friendly. That’s what it was designed to do. It’s a bit crap on purpose.",
"parent_id": "8191669",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192140",
"author": "Aknup",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:48:49",
"content": "I maintain my believe that comic sans is meant for comicsAnd so are many other comic fonts.I like them for illustrative use and have a few installed myself.",
"parent_id": "8191848",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192304",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T14:28:43",
"content": "Yeah exactly! And that’s why it rubs me the wrong way, too. As a parent, i see a lot of stuff the school sends home where they used Comic Sans to make it ‘fun’. And somehow theirintentmakes me angry every time i see the font.",
"parent_id": "8191848",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191787",
"author": "Daid",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T19:02:15",
"content": "To bad the website itself is an attack on usability of websites. Yes, you are very clever that you can make parts scroll sideways and other parts vertical, but it ruined your content.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192144",
"author": "Aknup",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:53:43",
"content": "Are you on a mobile device? Because it seems designed to be scrolled with a scroll wheel where you just keep scrolling to go through the vertical and horizontal content and the wheel is all you need.",
"parent_id": "8191787",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192170",
"author": "frenchone",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T10:08:34",
"content": "Whatever this was supposed to be, this turned into crap.",
"parent_id": "8192144",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8192311",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T14:35:54",
"content": "I love a good font and appreciate (if not understand) all of the fine details that go into it. But font rendering is one of the quickest way to pull in a ton of nested, slow, buggy, hard-to-configure, and bitrotty garbage dependencies into a project. So i have developed a whole series of idiot fonts for my framebuffer-based guis. I have reused a couple but mostly i just reinvent it by whatever seems least effort at the moment. Variations on 7-segment displays and other sporadic ways to split up a fixed-dimension character cell.And i’m happy with this foolishness haha. I really believe i spend less time making the world’s dumbest font from scratch than it would take to figure out how to get pango-cairo-freetype or whatever tofind a usable font from the libraryrender it into to an unsigned char buf[]report pixel dimensions for layouti’ve achieved that trio before but it always rots after a while, becomes able to access only some random unpleasant subset of my font library or something like that.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,404.554545
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/11/save-your-usb-c-plugs-from-oblivion/
|
Save Your USB-C Plugs From Oblivion
|
Jenny List
|
[
"3d Printer hacks"
] |
[
"strain relief",
"USB C"
] |
USB-C as the “One Cable To Rule Them All” has certainly been a success. While USB-A is still around for now, most of us have breathed a hefty sigh of relief with the passing of micro-USB and the several display and power standards it replaces. It’s not without its minor issues though. One of them is that it’s as susceptible as any other cable to a bit of strain. For that, we think [NordcaForm]’s
3D-printed USB-C cable strain relief
is definitely a cut above the rest.
Waxing lyrical about a simple 3D printed model might seem overkill for Hackaday, and it’s true, it’s not something we do often, but as Hackaday writers travel around with plenty of USB-C connected peripherals, we like the design of this one. It’s flexible enough to be useful without resorting to exotic filaments, and since it’s available in a few different forms with curved or straight edges, we think it can find a place in many a cable setup. Certainly more of an everyday carry than
a previously featured 3D print
. If you want to learn more about USB C, we have a
whole series
of posts for you to binge read.
| 54
| 16
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8191398",
"author": "echodelta",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T05:23:21",
"content": "If it was a way to make right angle short ends, but it’s a way to put a longer lever into the poor socket which is much harder to replace. The right way to strain relief of a cord is a radiused funnel not that springy elephant trunk stuff. Besides aren’t those ugly soiled stiff braided cable sheaths better at holding up to stress?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191653",
"author": "Mick",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T14:26:26",
"content": "I use a 90 degree adapter then use gaffer duct tape to support the remaining cable… This works well on stage for my electronics 👍😎",
"parent_id": "8191398",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191406",
"author": "Jan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T05:51:35",
"content": "I think I skip this one, since I prefer a cheap but broken cable over an expensive repair to a broken connector inside a device.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191429",
"author": "make piece not war",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T06:43:12",
"content": "You can use this before the cable begings to get damage.Also my comment about the first link (FM3k) was not accepted because I wrote about me laughing like a “minion hearing the word BUT, but with a double T” when I heard about FM3k.",
"parent_id": "8191406",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191604",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T13:19:33",
"content": "I think their point was that it’s a bad idea to attach a big lever to the connector, so when something bumps it, instead of damaging the cable, it would wrench the USB socket off.",
"parent_id": "8191429",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191681",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T15:14:03",
"content": "really needs to be ‘cheap’ but broken cable!As assuming you can actually get a footprint compatible connector and have the gear for SMD rework (as USB-C pretty inevitability isn’t a soldering iron job) its actually cheaper to repair the connector by quite some margin even paying yourself a decent hourly rate most of the time. At least for the USB-C cable that isn’t strictly just USB2.0, low power as those are relatively cheap, but the USB 3 speed cables, or worse the USB 4 and high power rated cables really really are not cheap, and really not very repairable.I do agree though I’d rather break the cable than the device, even when its a cheaper fix to fix the device myself most of the time – as a broken port CAN end up being serious damage to the PCB it mounts to, and at that point repair might well exceed my capabilities and sending it off the loons that manually rebuild the multi-layer PCB by hand under the stereo microscope I don’t even want to know what that would cost.",
"parent_id": "8191406",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191720",
"author": "KenN",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T16:44:20",
"content": "For charging, I mainly use inexpensive chargers, so if a USB-C jack is going to break off a PC board, I prefer it breaks on a throwaway device. And I have a fairly secure shelf to hold the devices being charged. When I’m connecting something to a computer for a data transfer or similar, I use good cables, careful positioning, and i try to have it connected for the least possible time. For a semi-permanent fixed USB connection, i add extra support or cable anchors to protect and secure the connection.Of course, travelling and portable use can be harder on USB connections.(and, fingers crossed, I have not really had problems with USB-A and micro-USB connections, either. )",
"parent_id": "8191681",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191791",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T19:16:24",
"content": "If you had managed to have problems with USB-A or B I’d have be astonished, those connectors are darn nearly bulletproof, nice big pads and contacts, lots of spacing between the pins, and usually through hole at least for the shell if not the whole socket. Even the clumsiest fool is going to struggle to harm them.Micro and mini USB are a tiny bit more delicate, usually being just SMD sockets, but IMO still vastly better than USB-C in nearly all cases – as they are something anybody can replace with a very cheap soldering iron really quite easy to do.",
"parent_id": "8191720",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192117",
"author": "Jan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T07:49:52",
"content": "“something anybody can replace with a very cheap soldering iron”nope… not true, my wife can’t, my friends can’t, my mother can’t. But what they can do, is buy a new cable for a very low cost. So, strengthening a cable (to save a few bucks), but risking an expensive repair or risking a waste of my spare time because people know that I should be able to fix it for them, is simply not a good idea.",
"parent_id": "8191791",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192160",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T09:41:13",
"content": "Fair enough @Jan, but at the same time the lets be conservative and say half an hour it will take for you or any of us to fix it is paid whatever minimum wage is in your area – almost certainly still cheaper than a cable for USB-C, and likely at parity on the cheap mini-micro cable. And as you are a HAD reader so I’d bet you already have a soldering iron and enough skill to swap a mini/micro USB port, but the rework tools usually required to do USB-C – I’d love to get a poll of HAD readers but I’d bet its more like 5-10% of us than that rather close to 100%. Which was my point here ‘anyone’ can cheaply repair the simpler ports easily and cheaply as this ‘anyone’ can either do it themselves, go to a repair cafe, or rope their HAD reader into doing it for them – where USB-C… I’m not saying we should be saving the cable at the cost of the socket there, just that some connectors are better than others entirely because they can actually be fixed easily.I do agree as I said that I’d rather have failing cables than sockets still as the risk when the small USB socket fails is the PCB is damaged in the process. and you absolutely must stop to fix that you can’t just subsititue and get on with what you were doing. So the only way strain relief like this makes sense is if it has a screw hole to attach the sleeve in place at your fixed devices or some sort of locking connector mounted to the device end thus taking most if not all the mechanical load off the socket. I’m actually considering something similar at my desk as I think the keyboard tray at its most extreme tucked in position might just be moving the USB hub with the cable springyness – so a little pin into something like this to hold everything in place and reduce the strain on the connector while still smoothing out the cable so it won’t be prone to failure either sounds like a winner there.",
"parent_id": "8191791",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191427",
"author": "make piece not war.",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T06:38:31",
"content": "Funny link to “a previously featured 3D print”.FM3k .. (insert here a minion hearing the word “butt”).",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191454",
"author": "Delta",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T08:02:54",
"content": "Success might be “a bit” of stretch from a developer’s point of view. From an advanced user’s, like an IT admin, it might be even worse. But I am sure the casual users are relatively content.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191477",
"author": "Ken C",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T08:41:30",
"content": "In other words: I bought a 3D printer and I must justify it somehow.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191594",
"author": "Jan_W",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T13:09:20",
"content": "Buying a 3D printer and doing what with it makes sense according to you? Man, comments like yours make every comment section worse post by post.",
"parent_id": "8191477",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191614",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T13:29:51",
"content": "If you have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.Sometimes, when you really really want a hammer, you start inventing nails. Then everything that isn’t a problem starts to look like a nail too.In that case, it’s best if you don’t buy the hammer.",
"parent_id": "8191594",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191689",
"author": "Steve",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T15:25:51",
"content": "And if you have a 3D printer, you print the hammer.",
"parent_id": "8191614",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191778",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T18:44:11",
"content": "No, you buy the 3D printer on the premise that it can print plastic hammers.Then you write a blog post or film a youtube video about how useful it is to be able to print a plastic hammer in case you don’t have a real one, and how many nails it can drive in before it completely disintegrates.All this should cost more and take more time than just buying a hammer, and it should be patreon sponsored.",
"parent_id": "8191689",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191796",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T19:25:00",
"content": "@Dude Soft hammers are a very useful thing.I fully intend to print some plastic hammer tips for my lightest soft hammer as after I’m going to guess 50 years (but it could easily be more as it was my Grandfathers, and he clearly used it a great deal, and died a while ago now) of use the plastic screw in replaceable tips are really really showing their age now.Seems the company still exists and do even sell replacements, so to support this quality company that stands buy such old products I’ll also buy some, but it seems like the perfect opportunity to figure out just how soft a soft hammer head I can get away with on many of the things I do, master the art of printing in some of the more novel (to me anyway) softer filaments, and maybe try out a screw in dead blow unit with the insert shot into pockets in the print before it finishes type method.",
"parent_id": "8191689",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191855",
"author": "Noraa Myles Landwehr",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T22:06:24",
"content": "I’m just wondering who has braided usb c cables that break on anything but the actual port. In fact now that I think about it not even micro usb, which was more prone to breakage in general, tended to break in this manner. It tended to break on the small springs. This articles “hammer” is something I’d imagine more for audio cables or old power adapters",
"parent_id": "8191689",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8192324",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T14:54:05",
"content": "haha i was with you until the last line. Boo. Buy the hammer anyways it’s fun",
"parent_id": "8191614",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191489",
"author": "Nikolai",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T09:01:26",
"content": "A spring type would looks more elegant",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191500",
"author": "El Gru",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T09:31:43",
"content": "Or you could buy quality cables and also treat them with the respect they deserve. I have not worn out a USB cable in decades. And some of them travel a lot.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191596",
"author": "Jan_W",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T13:12:27",
"content": "Congratulations. Please proceed to the front to collect your “Quality USB Cable Only Guy” award. It’s the same with all those “I ain’t got a scratch on my 15 yr. old phone”. Yay!!! But other people have because you know… Not everyone is a clone of YOU.",
"parent_id": "8191500",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191620",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T13:37:10",
"content": "The practice is its own reward. Not having broken cables and scratched phone screens.It’s very simple. Just don’t throw your stuff around and yank your cables like an ape, but I guess other people just have to, for some reason.",
"parent_id": "8191596",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191635",
"author": "Jan_W",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T13:56:14",
"content": "Wow, you can’t even think of one or two reasons your phone screen could suffer a scratch or your USB cable get yanked thought you didn’t intend to?That’s a pretty sweet mixture of over simplification of todays world, being naive and ignorant of your surroundings .",
"parent_id": "8191620",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191781",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T18:50:51",
"content": "I used to break cables and phones, but then I became more careful and now I don’t have that problem anymore.",
"parent_id": "8191635",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191782",
"author": "Chris",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T18:52:51",
"content": "Some people need to feel superior to everyone else.",
"parent_id": "8191635",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8192115",
"author": "Autumn",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T07:43:50",
"content": "Not so simple if you have issues with coordination, or grip strength, or tremors, or any number of issues that can make you more likely to drop something, and often alongside those problems comes lower access to finds to replace those inevitably.nroken items, so while you do a very good job of looking after things, not everybody can do that",
"parent_id": "8191620",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191646",
"author": "El Gru",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T14:10:22",
"content": "Jan, that thing won’t help against a yank the cable can’t handle by itself – unless your cables are the worst kind. Mind, it’s not about price, it’s about build quality. And yes, I have destroyed both cables and displays by mis-abusing them or accidents. I have also thrown out bad cables right after opening the box.If you can’t afford to do that (money, conscience, etc) back to square one: treat your gear with the required respect of how much you depend on it. If you do not care, then do no complain.",
"parent_id": "8191596",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191696",
"author": "Tony",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T15:35:04",
"content": "I just use reverse pliers/snaps to slightly widen smaller heat shrink tubing to put over both ends of all my cables. Keeps them great for years. Only have had to replace when the kids lose them.",
"parent_id": "8191596",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191780",
"author": "Chris",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T18:50:45",
"content": "I buy cheap cables and treat them like garbage. In the past 20+ years, I’ve only had a single cable stop working.",
"parent_id": "8191500",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192306",
"author": "FeRDNYC",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T14:29:13",
"content": "Well, then you’re some kind of magician because I buy cheap cables and treat them with care, for the most part. But still, none of them last more than a year or two before they go into “connection roulette” mode. (That’s the one where, if I’m not careful to double check every time I plug it into the phone, I come back hours later to find I haven’t been charging it and it’s now down to 21%.)Also, I don’t think USB-C is even 20 years old; I certainly haven’t been using them that long. Experiences with other types of cables aren’t really relevant; they all have different failure modes/odds. If you don’t think that’s the case, then you absolutely do NOT “buy cheap cables and treat them like garbage.”",
"parent_id": "8191780",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192325",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T14:59:09",
"content": "Yeah i’m somewhere between Chris and FeRDNYC. i buy cheap cables and i don’t care about them and they last years and years. But i do care a little bit about them, each one i try to make it so that when it’s plugged in and charging, it’s not putting any stress on the connection itself. Like a tablet sits flat (horizontal) and the cable is ‘just the right length’ from its fixed post, so there is never any weight of cable levering the connector. The bike lights need a longer cable so they are charged so that the weight of the cable is in line with the connection (i.e., straight up and down), pulling it apart i guess but not levering it at all. And i’ve become aware that some of these cables, if i hang the weight of the cable orthogonal to the connector, will not connect. Has the cable failed or is charging with a lever arm on the cable just always a bad deal? It still works if i orient it correctly, and i do. So imo the cable lasts forever :)",
"parent_id": "8191780",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191816",
"author": "Iman",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T20:40:37",
"content": "Living without kids has some advantages, we all know it.",
"parent_id": "8191500",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191523",
"author": "Suppressed Carrier",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T10:07:02",
"content": "This is the price you pay for having electronics (line drivers, etc.) in the Plug.A bad design all around, and one that will make China lots of money in offloading inferior cables.Why we don’t have an optical fiber along with some power wiring defies logic.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191553",
"author": "Cricri",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T11:06:01",
"content": "That’s not a problem with USB-C, that’s a problem with idiots kinking cables at a straight angle, often repeatedly. If “you have no choice because the cable is short”, then the proper solution is to use a longer cable. And if you don’t have the space behind the socket, this does not fix the problem.I lost count of how many dead game controllers I fixed by pruning the cable where cable meets the enclosure.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191746",
"author": "Greg M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T17:16:09",
"content": "To be honest this would also relieve strain to the socket itself. Take for instance, plugging in your phone and watching videos landscape. The weight of the wire itself is weighing down on the port. With this, you’re essentially shifting the center of gravity so it wouldn’t be as much strain.",
"parent_id": "8191553",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192314",
"author": "FeRDNYC",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T14:40:18",
"content": "That is not how that works. All you’re doing is adding more weight at the socket, with this attached. (I don’t find that USB cables are heavy enough that downward force on the socket when mounted horizontally is any kind of issue anyway, but this will marginally add to, not lessen, that force.)If you’re YANKING on the cable, then sure, this may reduce the amount of force transferred to the socket. Nothing to do with gravity or its center, but itmightlessen some of the force. Enough to matter? Doubt it, but who knows? The more reliable solution is not to yank on your cables, especially not with the socket in your phone.",
"parent_id": "8191746",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191655",
"author": "KEN JONES",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T14:27:33",
"content": "Cute project, but Amazon sells the Vafoton USB-C magnetic adapter. Small dongle in the C port of your device, matching half on the ENT of your cable. Hold device near the cable and they connect themselves! Pull slightly and they separate without strain on the cable. Brilliant!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191799",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T19:27:48",
"content": "My experience says they are unstable garbage, barely able to handle the lower end data rates – maybe useful if all you need is strictly charging.",
"parent_id": "8191655",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192272",
"author": "PatG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T13:06:40",
"content": "My experience is the opposite. But I don’t buy cheap ones.I protect my USB ports with such magnetic adapters and they carry video for 2 monitors and various USB channels without a glitch.",
"parent_id": "8191799",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192292",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T13:46:40",
"content": "Well if you have a particular brand/source that actually works properly I’d love to know which one it is, as they all look pretty much the same, and the price is no certainty they are actually good. So far I believe I’m up to 3 different magnetic tips and they have all been pretty poor in some way or other – one the magnet is so strong and down a mating recess too deep that you can’t actually roll or pull the two ends apart first, it always pulls the connector out of the device – so it is really quite pointless, but the data on that one did actually work stable enough I didn’t notice it going wrong at least. Where all the others have been awful, functional but glitching often, though at least have the mechanical design and magnet strength dialled in such that the magnetic connector might actually function.Or maybe it is just how short your cable is, as signal integrity across them is always going to be pretty poor, but if the cable can be 1″ long for you that probably doesn’t matter at all – I don’t need long cables by any means, but it does have to be more than that bare minimum of practical in the hand span ballpark length…",
"parent_id": "8192272",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191665",
"author": "William Payne",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T14:43:06",
"content": "do adapters work well with usb c male plugs?AI OverviewYes, adapters work well with USB-C male plugs,especially simple adapters like a female USB-Ato male USB-C adapter, but their functionalitydepends on the adapter’s specific design and thedevice’s capabilities. While they can provide aconvenient way to connect USB-A devices toa USB-C port, keep in mind that some adaptersmay be data-only or charge-only, and adapterswith the correct internal components are neededfor high-speed data transfer.Things to consider.AI OverviewYes, a powered USB 3.2 hub can offer a significantspeed advantage with USB-C, but only if allcomponents in your setup—including the hub,cable, and connected device—support the fasterUSB 3.2 standard. A powered hub also ensuresstable, high-speed performance by providing reliablepower to your devices.Speed improvements with USB 3.2.AI OverviewSome USB-C 3.2 powered hubs include an HDMIport because they are more accurately calleddocking stations, designed to expand a singleUSB-C port into a comprehensive workstation.This is possible because a single USB-C port canbe configured to carry multiple signals simultaneously,including video (via DisplayPort or HDMI AlternateMode), high-speed data, and power. Therefore, instead of just expanding data-only ports like abasic hub, these “smart” hubs convert theUSB-C port to offer a variety of functions, suchas video output to an HDMI monitor, multiple USB-Aports, and network connectivity, all throughone connection.Video output through Alternate Mode:",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191724",
"author": "KenN",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T16:49:30",
"content": "Thanks for the pointless AI slop.Would it be too much to ask HaD commenters to post THEIR thoughts instead of some copy/paste from an oversized pattern-matcher?",
"parent_id": "8191665",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191818",
"author": "Iman",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T20:43:37",
"content": "You´re a Payne in the AIss, aren’t you ?",
"parent_id": "8191665",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192288",
"author": "Maave",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T13:29:31",
"content": "please don’t post AI slop in the comments. I come here for expert opinions and scathing sarcasm.",
"parent_id": "8191665",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192318",
"author": "FeRDNYC",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T14:43:05",
"content": "Where can we go for scathing opinions and expert sarcasm?",
"parent_id": "8192288",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191769",
"author": "StajpZg",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T18:24:18",
"content": "I literally done thishttps://hackaday.com/2024/08/02/over-molding-wires-with-hot-glue-and-3d-printed-molds/but for USB micro and USB-C connectors.After the black hot glue it’s bulkier and uglier, but I do it as early as possible for cables that are important to me.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191772",
"author": "Tony M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T18:34:25",
"content": "Ok here my 5 year so far solution my head phones connector was internally broke so only one audio channel was working, I removed the original rubber?/plastic? and soldered the loss wire, then I used PlastiLoka to cover everything making some kind of cone shape and yeah, 5 years and counting, it looks ugly but it works great.Of course that makes you fall into the category of the”the poor guy who has no money to buy nice stuff” for others , I don’t give …",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191794",
"author": "Rog Fanther",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T19:23:43",
"content": "Well, then at least people will not aska) to borrow your headphonesb) to borrow your money.Win-Win",
"parent_id": "8191772",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191810",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T20:15:00",
"content": "Of course that makes you fall into the category of the”the poor guy who has no money to buy nice stuff” for others , I don’t give …Or it lets you buy lots of other nice things as you don’t need to waste your money on replacing that which you fixed…",
"parent_id": "8191772",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191803",
"author": "richspk",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T19:34:12",
"content": "Yo, I heard you liked stress reliefs, so I put a stress relief on your stress relief!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191850",
"author": "Cody",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T21:58:31",
"content": "Yeah, let’s just put more leverage on the cable so the socket on the expensive device gets broken instead.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192293",
"author": "William Payne",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T13:50:58",
"content": "what is the optimum usb c powered hub inputvoltage accurate to .1 volts to ensure at least5 v at the outputs?AI OverviewAn externally powered USB-C hub is designedto accept a higher voltage than the 5V it outputs,as this is more efficient and allows for more powerto be delivered to devices. The hub’s internalelectronics convert the input voltage to the5V output required by standard USB devices,with a maximum allowable voltage variationof 0.25V on the 5V output line.The optimal input voltage depends on thehub’s design, which uses an internal converterto step the voltage down. This internalconversion inherently accounts forvoltage drops caused by the cable andthe hub’s own circuitry.Power Delivery (PD) input“ConclusionTo ensure a stable 5V output from a USB-Cpowered hub, an input voltage higher than5V is ideal because it provides a sufficientbuffer against voltage drop.The most common and optimal input voltagesfor a quality powered hub are 9V or 12V. Aninput of 12.0V, specifically, would give theinternal circuitry plenty of overhead to convertthe voltage down to a stable 5V, accuratelymaintaining it within the required $\\pm$0.25Vrange.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,404.505286
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/11/bose-soundtouch-smart-wifi-speakers-are-about-to-go-dumb/
|
Bose SoundTouch Smart WiFi Speakers Are About To Go Dumb
|
Maya Posch
|
[
"digital audio hacks"
] |
[
"bose",
"planned obsolescence",
"SoundTouch"
] |
Bose SoundTouch speakers were introduced in 2013, offering the ability to connect to online streaming services and play back audio on multiple speakers simultaneously using the accompanying mobile app. Now these features are about to be removed, including the mobile app, as Bose is
set to discontinue support
on February 18, 2026. From that point onwards, you can only use them via Bluetooth or physical connectors that may be present, like an audio jack or HDMI port. This includes fancy home theater system hardware like the above SoundTouch 520.
That is the official line, at least. We have seen the SoundTouch on Hackaday previously, when it was discovered
how to gain root shell access
to the Linux OS that powers the original SoundTouch system with Telnet access on port 17,000 to pass the listening service the
remote_services on
command before connecting with Telnet as usual, with
root
and no password. A quick glance at the comments to that post suggests that this is still a valid approach for at least certain SoundTouch devices.
The fallout from this announcement appears to be twofold: most of all that ‘smart’ features like WiFi-based streaming can be dropped at any time. But it also makes us realize that hardware hackers like us will never run out of new and suddenly obsolete hardware that need our rescue.
| 28
| 9
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8191364",
"author": "Chr El",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T02:31:40",
"content": "Another one bites the dust.Really a shame how much the MBAs have ruined Bose.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191384",
"author": "limroh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T04:12:23",
"content": "I have to agree by principle but come on – 13 years runtime!That is quite decent IMO.Actually, is there a ranking of which such (smart home) cloud based hardware+service ran the longest?",
"parent_id": "8191364",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191395",
"author": "Cody",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T05:20:29",
"content": "At least they didn’t completely brick them.",
"parent_id": "8191384",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191951",
"author": "T",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T01:18:06",
"content": "True… smart switch graveyard ⚰️ comes to mind",
"parent_id": "8191395",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191458",
"author": "peter",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T08:08:29",
"content": "Why should the connection between hardware and a 3rd party (e.g. Spotify) be killed? This is bullshit.",
"parent_id": "8191384",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191649",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T14:15:24",
"content": "Because encryption and security certificates have an expiration date in case someone tries to brute-force them.For example, the certificate for this webpage expires on Tue, 18 Nov 2025 20:47:38 GMT. The higher level certificate expires on Fri, 12 Mar 2027 23:59:59 GMT, and the root certificate expires on Mon, 04 Jun 2035 11:04:38 GMT. When you connect to the server, you’re using one of those certificates to check that the server is who it claims to be and not some impostor or hacker in the middle.If you build a device that doesn’t get continuous firmware updates, and you need it to access online services securely, the best you can do is about 10-20 years before it goes out of date and you’d have to upgrade the firmware. If the device is well out of production by then, there’s no incentive for the manufacturer to do that, and demanding them to support EOL products would be unreasonable in general.",
"parent_id": "8191458",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191861",
"author": "Miles",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T22:17:49",
"content": "The ability to update your own certificates in a device using an open-source operating system on a device that could easily last 50 years is fairly reasonable though.",
"parent_id": "8191649",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191870",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T22:43:35",
"content": "Yes, they could do that and the other thing, when Spotify inevitably changes its API which requires you to re-write that part of the firmware.They could give you the tools, the development environment and the source code so you could maintain the hardware indefinitely, but does it pay them one more cent? It would instead create competition against their own products both through the second hand market, and through people reverse-engineering and copying the product with the help of said tools.",
"parent_id": "8191649",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8192206",
"author": "M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T11:24:51",
"content": "Because the connection doesn’t go directly from the speaker to that 3rd party. Spotify isn’t terribly interested in maintaining an API for random consumer devices, and even if they DID you’d then be relying on spotify for ongoing support. They’re even less likely to care than bose are if your smart speaker stops working.",
"parent_id": "8191458",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191642",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T14:05:07",
"content": "There’s not much anyone can do about the decay of digital services. Any connected smart device becomes locked in time and obsolete in a few years. Even if the back-end services were kept running, they would eventually expire and have to update their security certificates and encryption methods, etc. while the devices “in the field” would not.What you’re asking there is for a consumer device that you buy once, and then expect the company to keep producing firmware updates and support it indefinitely. Nobody’s going to offer you that deal.That’s why buying smart devices is not smart. They’re disposable products by nature. What you actually want is just an amplifier and a set of speakers, and then a mini-PC for all the smart features.",
"parent_id": "8191364",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191715",
"author": "KenN",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T16:22:53",
"content": "Good points. I’m still rocking a 40 yr old Technics stereo receiver in my home office; the only “updates” it has required are: replacing the failed dial incandescant bulbs with violet LEDs, and contact cleaner on some crackly switches.",
"parent_id": "8191642",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191792",
"author": "rclark",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T19:18:36",
"content": "“Buying smart devices is not smart” Amen… That I totally agree with. Never bought into the hype. Never will. Keep it local and protocols open. The network and devices are on your terms, not some cloud based entity….",
"parent_id": "8191642",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191369",
"author": "Chr El",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T02:51:37",
"content": "Another one bites the dust.Really a shame how much the MBAs have ruined Bose.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191426",
"author": "make piece not war",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T06:35:11",
"content": "I stay away for anything requiring network connection to work.Unfortunately, if today m$ dies, all the computers with fenetre os will die since it keeps reporting to its home base, for the system and each program made by the said company.If you wanna test it, unplug the external connection of your router and enjoy the slowness of the system and how much you have to wait until one speeadsheet program starts.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191445",
"author": "Tom",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T07:44:19",
"content": "My experience differs somewhat. I’m actually running several machines that had an uplink to the Internet for exactly one time: during activation after installing.They are running (besides other stuff) a full MS Office suite and they are doing it far from slow. No lag at startup.Just my two cents.",
"parent_id": "8191426",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191521",
"author": "zogzog",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T10:04:24",
"content": "Same experience here, I don’t use windows much, but it always feel faster without the net….",
"parent_id": "8191445",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191863",
"author": "Miles",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T22:20:21",
"content": "It has been tested that the taskbar is loading ads, slowly. Maybe turn off all the ads and stuff?",
"parent_id": "8191521",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191581",
"author": "PEBKAC",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T12:33:43",
"content": "Yeah yeah, software with regular updates (and subscription based licensing) polls for a remote server on startup.There’s plenty of legitimate things to rag on MS for, but Windows works fine without an open pipe to the Internet. You know they use it on critical systems on warships, right?",
"parent_id": "8191426",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191795",
"author": "rclark",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T19:24:09",
"content": "Just put M$ behind you and don’t look back. Pretty simple actually.",
"parent_id": "8191426",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191616",
"author": "dave rat",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T13:31:29",
"content": "Furious, remotely ruining a perfectly good product and removing capabilities feels like robbery. This should be illegal or they should pay us cash for the forced downgrade.I discount on products from a company I will never buy from again is just an insult.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191798",
"author": "Iman",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T19:26:34",
"content": "The cloud is not yours. No robbery involved. Just don´t buy such objects and you won´t be deceived.",
"parent_id": "8191616",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191875",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T22:58:16",
"content": "A large amount of it seems to still continue functioning, you are just losing the internet connected elements, and apparently multiroom playback, which shouldn’t need to be connected to an internet service just network connected but I guess it is part of how the speakers all sync to each other and get controlled in the original configuration.So in this case while I’d be very annoyed at an early and unexpected termination if I had bought one recently – really should be announced with a longer lead time and a price reduction on the products yet to be sold so everyone knows you are really buying a bluetooth/hmdi speaker with a short term bonus in the first instance.I do agree I’d never buy a product like this, as I have the skills to roll my own with the feature set I actually need and nothing else, but for the normie that can’t DIY a decade or more of function without a subscription fee…. This isn’t the what Sonus IIRC did bricking old devices on you entirely, simply a removal of features that will have an ongoing cost to BOSE to provide after a long period of time.",
"parent_id": "8191616",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191647",
"author": "Dave",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T14:12:36",
"content": "Bose should have a buyback program for SoundTouch units. The whole reason I purchased them was for multiro playback and now that’s kaput.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191800",
"author": "Iman",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T19:27:52",
"content": "If it´s kaput for you, give it to me.",
"parent_id": "8191647",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191776",
"author": "fuzzyfuzzyfungus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T18:38:58",
"content": "Obviously any obstacle is enough when you don’t care; but I’d be curious if there is some specific thing they’ve run into(deeply entangled dependency got deprecated; or flash is filling up on the most cost-reduced control board they shipped or the like) that dictated the kill date.Their announcement is sort of a generic “introduced 2013; but technology marches on”; but (in broad strokes) technology really hasn’t marched all that far on since 2013. Some older wifi radios that wouldn’t be software upgradeable, sure; and probably some embedded Linux whose security is only acceptable if your attack surface analysis is confined to whatever little proprietary service listener Bose is using; but 2013 would have had both TLS 1.2 and WPA2 as common and accepted; and in terms of design patterns and preferences that’s far closer to the present than the past(ie. probably a bunch of REST HTTP APIs; not some godforsaken CORBA hell).Obviously it could just be indifference; but anyone know if there is some specific library deprecation or something that would have really hardened their timeline?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191801",
"author": "H Hack",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T19:28:06",
"content": "I’ll never buy Bose again, based on the two Bose devices I have. QC35, impossible to switch off the automatic mic gain. Bluetooth speaker with non adjustable EQ that has bass set to 10. What a total utter joke.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192209",
"author": "M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T11:27:20",
"content": "Would love to see an openWRT or postmarketOS style project for smart speakers. They’re much simpler hardware, with audio output chips and maybe some GPIOs instead of a ton of complicated sensors, a battery controller, a screen, and a cell modem.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192299",
"author": "TerryMatthews",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T14:21:45",
"content": "Oh ffs. Stop creating problems. As long as your head or amp has connectivity or gasp you actually connect it to another device with those stupid streaming crapps, then you are set until those companies too go the way of the vaporbird. You remember when people used to just have their own music collections and and podcasts and could just hit shuffle? Me neither. Long live the aux in!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,404.62044
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/11/a-deep-dive-into-the-coolness-that-was-crt-projectors/
|
A Deep Dive Into The Coolness That Was CRT Projectors
|
Donald Papp
|
[
"classic hacks",
"hardware",
"home entertainment hacks"
] |
[
"calibration",
"crt",
"projector",
"vintage"
] |
CRT monitors: there’s nothing quite like ’em. But did you know that video projectors used to use CRTs? A trio of monochrome CRTs, in fact: one for each color; red, green, and blue. By their powers combined,
these monsters were capable of fantastic resolution and image quality
. Despite being nowhere near as bright as modern projectors, after being properly set up, [Technology Connections] says it’s still one of the best projected images he has seen outside of a movie theatre.
After a twenty-minute startup to reach thermal equilibrium, one can settle down with a chunky service manual for a ponderous calibration process involving an enormous remote control. The reward is a fantastic (albeit brightness-limited) picture.
Still, these projectors had drawbacks. They were limited in brightness, of course. But they were also complex, labor-intensive beasts to set up and calibrate. On the other hand, at least they were heavy.
[Technology Connections] gives us a good look at the Sony VPH-D50HT Mark II CRT Projector in its tri-lobed, liquid-cooled glory. This model is a relic by today’s standards, but natively supports 1080i via component video input and even preserves image quality and resolution by reshaping the image in each CRT to perform things like keystone correction, thus compensating for projection angle right at the source. Being an analog device, there is no hint of screen door effect or any other digital artifact. The picture is just
there
, limited only by the specks of phosphor on the face of each tube.
Converging and calibrating three separate projectors really was a nontrivial undertaking. There are some similarities to the big screen rear-projection TVs of the 90s and early 2000s (which were then displaced by plasma and flat-panel LCD displays). Unlike enclosed rear-projection TVs, the screen for projectors was not fixed, which meant all that calibration needed to be done on-site. A walkthrough of what that process was like — done with the help of many test patterns and a remote control that is as monstrous as it is confusing — starts at 15:35 in the video below.
Like rear-projection TVs, these projectors were displaced by newer technologies that were lighter, brighter, and easier to use. Still, just like other CRT displays, there was
nothing quite like them
. And if you find esoteric projector technologies intriguing, we have a feeling you will love
the Eidophor
.
| 18
| 9
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8191346",
"author": "Jason",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T01:12:31",
"content": "Yes. I had one in my Home theatre room back in the day. my mom also had one in her place. They were a little bit of a pain to setup but once all was done and in the nice dark room it was grand for it’s time.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191352",
"author": "Derek Tombrello",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T01:36:42",
"content": "I used to work on rear projection TVs that used those same liquid-cooled lenses. Those things were fun to clean. The liquid would grow bacteria and I’d have to drain them, clean them, reassemble them and refill them. And good LORD did those things pack a punch. Working on one one day, I was doing some powered on tests. Of course I touched one of the high voltage leads. Shut the shop down and went home for that. That was enough of THAT for one day! Sigh… Fun times…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191478",
"author": "Troepje",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T08:45:31",
"content": "Sorry for laughing about it, somehow I saw in my head a South Park episode where Cartman was working at a projector ;). “gddamnit….. scrw you guys, im going home”",
"parent_id": "8191352",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191767",
"author": "Derek Tombrello",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T18:23:34",
"content": "🤣 Yep… that was pretty much it!",
"parent_id": "8191478",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191815",
"author": "CJay",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T20:35:04",
"content": "I worked on the Barco and other projectors like the one featured, some of the stuff we worked on needed a source of constantly flowing cooling water and occasionbally a chiller to cool the lenses on the really big ones but damn they were scary, the tubes were not long lived and needed to be chaged often, the voltages involved demanded respect too.The coolest application I’ve seen (and this was only in the past 10 years) was a fighter jet simulator with six Barco projectors throwing onto a kind of wrap around screen",
"parent_id": "8191352",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192008",
"author": "StevoBambino",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T02:55:18",
"content": "They have had those fighter jet simulators for many years. I was asked to rebuild some way back in 2003. I do remember that there were 6 projectors per simulator, but not how many simulators. I think that was in Colorado. There are not many people that can do that kind of stuff anymore.",
"parent_id": "8191815",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192066",
"author": "Frankens",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T05:06:51",
"content": "Tis many lost arts…. general repairing of things.. is a lost art… being able to get schematics and such….",
"parent_id": "8192008",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191443",
"author": "macsimki",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T07:37:20",
"content": "ahh. the hell of adjusting the image in a mobile situation. and my back hurts when just thinking about them.no i dont miss those times.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191498",
"author": "Sulio Pulev",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T09:27:45",
"content": "what about x rays exposure because those monsters can goes to 50 000 or more volts for brightness ?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191511",
"author": "DurDurDur",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T09:45:18",
"content": "The front face of the CRT is made of thick, leaded glass, which is effective at blocking most if not all of the X-rays produced",
"parent_id": "8191498",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192150",
"author": "Aknup",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T09:03:07",
"content": "Are you just guessing? Because since they need to be extra bright and have the liquid in front that has a blocking effect I assume, and are not viewed face-on, I imagine the manufacturers would take all that into account and leaded glass might not be the thing they rely on.Does glycol block radiation? Anybody know? (it was glycol they used right?)",
"parent_id": "8191511",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192336",
"author": "FeRDNYC",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T15:19:30",
"content": "The FDA (not, as you might expect, the FCC) has since 1968 maintained strict standards regarding the emission of harmful amounts of ionizing radiation (which includes x-rays), and those standards apply universally no matter how the device is viewed. A device that emits greater-than-negligible levels of x-rays would not be saleable in the US without special permits, monitoring, and warning labels.",
"parent_id": "8192150",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191632",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T13:52:14",
"content": "I frequented a pub in the 80s that installed a projector like this. Glorious it was, for the time. It was huge. It was a showpiece. Transformative, even…I don’t know if it was a deliberate management decision or just unintended consequences, but it immediately changed the whole character of the place.Before, it was a roomful of tables with people being social and enjoying each others’ company. They’d have live music most nights, and rotating cast of regular customer.After, the projector, screen and the throw distance took up the space of 2 or 3 tables, and the focus of the room was now THE SCREEN. The corner stage where the live performers played became mostly disused and storage for tables.Now, when you went in, you couldn’t ignore THE SCREEN. Conversation was sparse, because everyone was watching, slack-jawed, at THE SCREEN. The focus of the place, the reason to go there, shifted to the content on THE SCREEN.It didn’t take long for the clientele to change and business to drop off. They brought in a DJ to spice things up, with the projector showing psychedelic shows and music videos — MTV and MuchMusic had only been in existence a couple of years then, and were still novel. It didn’t help much. A few years later the place shuttered. Kind of sad to see that transformation.I still wanted one of those projectors though. But now I have a DLP one that I can lift with one hand and outperforms those monsters in pretty much every respect. Ironically, it sees little use too because it, too, dominates the room.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191723",
"author": "RedEye",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T16:48:48",
"content": "Hated being on flights that had these, sucked when you were trying to sleep and the whole cabin was flashing. They are damned cool though.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191747",
"author": "Rob V-M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T17:17:05",
"content": "I noticed a projector like this in an episode of the recent season of Severance. I immediately clocked how it would have worked but I assumed it was part of their alternate tech history thing. I didn’t realize any mad lads had actually done it this way, or that was kind of common.In that episode the projector seems the be built into the room as permanent furniture, which makes a lot of sense after seeing Alec spend a day of his life setting one up",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191760",
"author": "fuzzyfuzzyfungus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T17:58:25",
"content": "I, unfairly to the technology, have strong negative associations with these because they used to use them for in-flight entertainment on some of the larger airliners before LCDs became viable. A few seats with really odd sight lines might have normal CRTs in bulbs on the ceiling; but blocks of seats that could all see a projection screen would be served by one of these instead, lighter overall.Tech worked fine; but I still can’t look at a CRT projector without the distinct sensation of having a seatback rammed into my kneecaps for 4+ hours; so we aren’t really friends.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191793",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T19:19:40",
"content": "I have a similar association with 16 mm film projectors. No kidding. On nearly decrepit Fokker F27s, in Zimbabwe.Yes, I know they were common in the 60s and 70s, but that was before my flying days. By the 80s most airlines had moved on to CRTs. But not Zimbabwe…",
"parent_id": "8191760",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8192034",
"author": "StevoBambino",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T03:14:13",
"content": "Those Sony D50’s were small CRT projectors. 5 inch tubes. Sony also made a D70 (7 inch) and a D90 (9 inch). The D90 was pretty rare in North America. I think I only ever worked on 5 or 6 of them. The D70 was the most common of the three. Sony also made a series before the D series. VPH 12 I think. Its been too long. Then there were Barcos and Electrohomes and Mitsubishis and some crappy Zeniths. The Barcos had a lot of problems with power supplys. Mitsubishi was rare in North America. Electrohomes were the best IMHO. I worked on hundreds of them. The bigger ones were brighter. The Sony D series has limited convergence adjustment and I always had a problem getting all three colors in all four corners converged perfectly. The blue in one corner was always running out of adjustment before it lined up with the red and green. I always thought it was just my method of converging did not work all that well with Sony’s D series. Then I saw one set up at CES by some company that installed them for home theaters. They had the same problem. I guess it was not me.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,404.68061
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/07/a-childhood-dream-created-and-open-sourced/
|
A Childhood Dream, Created And Open Sourced
|
Tyler August
|
[
"Musical Hacks"
] |
[
"force sensor",
"midi",
"softpot",
"violin"
] |
Some kids dream about getting a pony, others dream about a small form factor violin-style MIDI controller. [Brady Y. Lin] was one of the latter, and now, with the skills he’s learning at Northwestern,
he can make that dream a reality
— and share it with all of us as an open source hardware project.
The dream instrument’s name is Stradex1, and it’s a lovely bit of kit. The “fretless” neck is a SoftPot linear potentiometer being sampled by an ADS1115 ADC — that’s a 16-bit unit, so while one might pedantically argue that there are discreet frets, there’s 2^15 of them, which is functionally the same as none at all. Certainly it’s enough resolution for continuous-sounding pitch control, as well as vibrato, as you can see at 3:20 in the demo video below. The four buttons that correspond to the four strings of a violin aren’t just push-buttons, but also contain force sensors (again, sampled by the 16-bit ADC) to allow for fine volume control of each tone.
A few other potentiometers flesh out the build, allowing control over different MIDI parameters, such as what key [Brady] is playing on. The body is a combination of 3D printed plastic and laser-cut acrylic, but [Brady] suggests you could also print the front and back panels if you don’t happen to have a laser cutter handy.
This project sounds great, and it satisfies the maker’s inner child, so what’s not to love. We’ve had lots of
MIDI controllers
on Hackaday over the years — everything from
stringless guitars
to wheel-less
Hurdy-Gurdies
to say nothing of
laser harps galore
— but somehow, we’ve never had a MIDI violin. The
violin hacks
we have featured tend to be either
3D printed
or
comically small
.
If you like this project but don’t feel like fabbing and populating the PCB, [Brady] is going to be giving one away to his 1000th YouTube subscriber. As of this writing, he’s only got 800, so that could be you!
| 12
| 5
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8188648",
"author": "Shannon",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T11:34:08",
"content": "Nice.A couple years ago I was looking at making something similar but couldn’t find any soft-pots that were long enough, I think the longest I found was 15cm when I wanted closer to 30cm as a violinist.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188897",
"author": "Hudson",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:32:23",
"content": "I am actually in the same boat… been wanting to create a project like this for years, but im aiming for a much longer neck. There is the possibility of designing a capacitive touch sensor, but I dont have any pcb design skills, and my soldering is horrible.",
"parent_id": "8188648",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190437",
"author": "lambert4congress",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T23:13:06",
"content": "I hope y’all make them! As a kid, I always hated those electronic toys that pretended to be an instrument. I get they were toys now, but I quickly lost interest them as a child due to their simplicity. Open source electronic instruments need to be a thing, if only so more children can learn to break and fix them.",
"parent_id": "8188897",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190595",
"author": "Lou",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T06:25:45",
"content": "Shannon, SpectraSymbol makes them up to 100cm long.",
"parent_id": "8188648",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188683",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T12:35:04",
"content": "Not sure whether it was trying to be sly by saying such tiny frets would be discreet, but you probably meant “discrete”.A fun idea. I need to try some of those long linear pots. I wonder if they’re better than a capsense array.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188759",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T15:27:34",
"content": "“Some kids dream about getting a pony”Courtesy of DIY genetic engineering they just might. :-D",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188986",
"author": "John Elliot V",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T22:44:54",
"content": "All you need is a cheap adult toy from Aliexpress. Search for “pony play plug”.",
"parent_id": "8188759",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188998",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T23:01:30",
"content": "Vote Vermin Supreme for president!",
"parent_id": "8188759",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189528",
"author": "Egghead Larsen",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T17:36:02",
"content": "I prefer Vendacious of the Tines! (RiP Verner Vinge!)",
"parent_id": "8188998",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188761",
"author": "Tony M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T15:33:12",
"content": "I love this kind of toys, the fact that we always are experts playing them as soon as we grab them. Taka-taka.taka-taaaahhhh!! annoying everyone in the room. A couple of days ago I was remembering a electronics magazine called “saber electronica” the cover article was about a box with all kind of pots and switches, to play with a bunch of oscilators inside, 555, discrete oscilators, mixers, relaxations and of course, leds, those were the times. Just like the old internet saying: we were happy and we didn’t know it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188876",
"author": "echodelta",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:08:59",
"content": "A good project but the digital editing and it’s effect on human delivery is null. I’d like to hear 5 to 10 seconds of actual demo-performance. The soft pots interest me but compared to more than 2 feet of self sustaining slide steel I’d expect less pitch control.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192028",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T03:02:52",
"content": "So you’re saying you would rather have a completely different but similar thing in a real instrument.This is fine, the information is there, go nuts.",
"parent_id": "8188876",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
}
] | 1,760,371,404.726409
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/07/a-lorenz-teletype-shows-us-its-secrets/
|
A Lorenz Teletype Shows Us Its Secrets
|
Jenny List
|
[
"Network Hacks",
"Retrocomputing"
] |
[
"lorenz",
"teletype",
"terminal"
] |
When we use the command line on Linux, we often refer to it as a
terminal
. It’s a word with a past invoking images of serial terminals, rows of green-screened machines hooked up to a central computer somewhere. Those in turn were electronic versions of mechanical teletypes, and it’s one of these machines we’re bringing you today. [DipDoT]
has a Lorenz teletype from the 1950s
, and he’s taking us through servicing and cleaning it, eventually showing us its inner workings.
The machine in question had been in storage for many years, but remained in good condition. To be this long out of use though meant it needed a thorough clean, so he sets about oiling the many hundreds of maintenance points listed in a Lorenz manual. It’s a pleasant surprise for us to see keyboard and printer unit come away from the chassis for servicing so easily, and by stepping it through its operation step by step we can see how it works in detail. It even incorporates an identifier key — think of it as a mechanical ROM that stores a sequence of letters — which leads him to believe it may have come from a New York news office. The video is below the break, and makes for an interesting watch.
He’s going to use it with a relay computer, but if you don’t have one of those
there are more modern ways to do it
.
| 23
| 5
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8188589",
"author": "paulvdh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T09:18:03",
"content": "@05:40 “The oil I’m using is just standard sewing machine oil”.You mean that stuff that dries up after 2 years and forms a sticky and gummy residue that does not lubricate?I once bought a 2nd hand sewing machine that was so gummed up with that stuff that the motor could not even turn anymore, and I had to disassemble and clean half the mechanism.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188600",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T09:43:26",
"content": "It’s better use balistic oil here, I think.On other hand, why not let the machine suffer a little bit ?It would just be fair, considering how many people’s hearing it harmed over the years.",
"parent_id": "8188589",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188641",
"author": "Joseph Eoff",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T11:27:41",
"content": "Keep Ballistol far away from sewing machines or other fine mechanics.Ballistol was originally made for oiling and protecting the mechanisms in firearms. Its composition is designed for this use. It is not made for other uses – and it stinks besides.",
"parent_id": "8188600",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188657",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T11:51:42",
"content": "The teletype itself stinks, too.",
"parent_id": "8188641",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188634",
"author": "Joseph Eoff",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T11:23:51",
"content": "Real sewing machine oil doesn’t do that.The 3in1 oil that you buy at the grocery store will dry up an go gummy very quickly. Despite saying “for sewing machines” on the can, it is not appropriate for use on sewing machinesGood quality sewing machine oil will still lubricate after decades.Buy good quality sewing machine oil specifically made for sewing machines. The machines will thank you with long and faithful service.",
"parent_id": "8188589",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188756",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T15:24:40",
"content": "i’d be interested in a more detailed write up on this phenomenon. It’s ever-present, someone saying “don’t use that oil, it gums up.” Though usually it’s the other way around, more like Joseph Eoff’s comment —douse sewing machine oil, because it doesn’t gum up.Anyways, just speaking from my own experience, here’s my hot take. Based just on my own experience of course.It’s all a bunch of hooey. Every oil will gum up if you get it dirty or let it sit long enough. 3in1, WD40, wildcard machine oil, 10W30, diesel, brake fluid, even ‘synthetic with teflon’. and any of the above will lubricate well enough in the short-term.Don’t get me wrong. The in-between differences matter. WD40 will not lubricate as well (or as long, at least) as any of the heavier oils. The heavier oils will typically collect gunk a little faster. But everything collects gunk, nothing that lasts evaporates cleanly, everything polymerizes at the margins over decades.But if you pull something out of someone’s garage and blame the last guy to oil it, you’re missing the mark. The decade of disuse in a garage caused your problems. If the guy had kept oiling it the way he was going, it would still be moving smoothly today.i’m just saying because i rode a bike around with the derailleur rusted solid for a decade before i was like “why not?” and i doused it in WD40 and exercised it and it worked for2 yearson just that treatment. “WD40 doesn’t lube,” you say. pfft.i think the reason old men are so confident in their recommendations is that they really did solve their gunking and seizing problems. But they solved it with elbow grease, with careful application, with frequent inspections and maintenance, with cleaning. Young men are not doing those things (anyways, i wasn’t). Our problem is not that we used 3in1, but that we just added more oil to something that was already full of gunk from being over-oiled, instead of cleaning.And in that vein, if you’re going to usejust oneoil, use WD40, because it really is much better at cleaning. The difference in long-term lubrication is nothing compared to the difference between cleaning or not cleaning.",
"parent_id": "8188589",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188799",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T16:50:40",
"content": "I’m impressed; that’s actually quite a thoughtful comment.It doesn’t seem very often that people make the effort to differentiate and care about the nuances. IMHO.Especially the use of WD40 has many pros/cons to begin with.It can be used against rust and for lubrication, although the effect won’t necessarily last very long.Anyway, it’s a handy universally tool.A classic next to duct tape, luster terminals and zip ties. :)",
"parent_id": "8188756",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188900",
"author": "ialonepossessthetruth",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:37:17",
"content": "“rode a bike around with the derailleur rusted solid for a decade” Wow, that is sonotsomething to be telling people.",
"parent_id": "8188756",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189807",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T01:38:18",
"content": "eh, single speeds are still in style aren’t they?",
"parent_id": "8188900",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189111",
"author": "Cody",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T04:08:42",
"content": "WD40 is specifically designed to evaporate and leave behind a very thin layer of oil for rust protection. It’s mostly solvent, so it does make a good cleaner though.",
"parent_id": "8188756",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188598",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T09:40:54",
"content": "Certain things are better to be left in the past.And that’s one of them, maybe. The noise alone made people deaf.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188631",
"author": "Dom",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T11:16:48",
"content": "I had a brief career in a suburban bank branch in Australia in 1980, using Olivetti teletype machines.Feed the customer’s passbook into the machine, type the various commands and it would print deposits and withdrawal details into the passbook. Updated instantly – with balances but excluding uncleared cheques – over who knows what kind of data link to central.I once watched in awe as a technician serviced the machine. So….many…..gears.",
"parent_id": "8188598",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188806",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T17:06:16",
"content": "Hi! These are some great memories! 🙂👍Personally, I do like mechanical typewriters (esp. the travel types) and electro-mechanical relays of all kinds.My negative comment about the Lorenz typewriters is mainly because they’re so very loud.Relay computers and mainframes used to be behind walls of glass,so the operators could sit in a different room using peaceful glass terminals (CRT terminals; or modern, quiet teletypes).Same can’t be said about those Lorenz teletypes, however.Operators had to endure their noise for hours and days, months, years..Now let’s imagine there’s a dozen of them. 🙁",
"parent_id": "8188631",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189798",
"author": "Joe",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T01:22:10",
"content": "Baloney. I’m not familiar with the Lorenz machine, but I operated Kleinschmidt machines in the US Army, and operated Teletype Corp 19, 28, 33, and 35 machines as a civilian, and never found the clatter objectionable or harmful. I am very protective of my vision and hearing, and always used ear protection when working eve excessively with weapons and loud machinery including tanks, but I never found teleprompters to be excessively loud. At 79, my hearing seems to be as good as it was at 29. It seems to me that you are speaking from hearsay and not direct experience. What IS your history with teleprinters? BTW, the Lorenz, Kleinschmidt, and others are not Teletypes, but teleprinters; “Teletype” is a registered trademark of Teletype Corporation division of Western and their successors. All others are teleprinters.",
"parent_id": "8188598",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188680",
"author": "Antron Argaiv",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T12:27:17",
"content": "Former Teletype repair person here. We used 30W motor oil, which is also recommended for Selectrics. For grease (bushings and cams) we used Mobilgrease 28.I’m interested to note that the keyboard seems to be a US one",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188743",
"author": "make piece not war",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T14:35:16",
"content": "Is this related to Lorenz teletype used in ww2 by the nazi and decrypted by Colossus?",
"parent_id": "8188680",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188754",
"author": "Antron Argaiv",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T15:15:40",
"content": "Same company, or at least the successor to the Nazi-era Lorenz. The device here looks to be almost a clone of the Teletype Model 19 or 17.",
"parent_id": "8188743",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188762",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T15:33:27",
"content": "What kind of applicator did you use? i mean, the biggest reason i never use motor oil is that i can’t really imagine pouring from the big plastic jug into the tiny ports on my sewing machine :)It’s on my mind because my WD40 pressurized aerosol let out the gas and i ripped off its little nozzle and now i apply it by holding the can upside down and letting it dribble / capilary-action out of the exposed nubbin. Pretty unsatisfactory. Meanwhile my 3in1 has a great little 3 inch straw coming out the top of it with a tiny hole, which is great for a lot of things. As i’m going to buy a new can of WD40 for the first time in 10 years, i realize my only complaint is the form factor. i kind of want to just buy a jug of the juice and put it in a syringe or a small squeezy bottle?? Ideas?",
"parent_id": "8188680",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188871",
"author": "Chris Maple",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:04:23",
"content": "WD40 is available in 0.3 oz “pens”. I can’t tell from the description if it’s pressurized or not.WD40 is also available in 1 and 5 gallon cans and a 55 gallon drum. Good luck finding a retailer that has it.Small squeeze bottles are available from Michaels, eye droppers from health food stores.",
"parent_id": "8188762",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189802",
"author": "Joe",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T01:31:30",
"content": "You’re just being facetious, right? 3in1 is available as SAE20 motor oil, but at 8 bux for its tiny can it’s no bargain. Engine oil can be suspended with eyedroppers, syringes, or even a rod or wire dipped into the can.",
"parent_id": "8188762",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190396",
"author": "JimZ",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T20:39:57",
"content": "Hypodermic needles from the pharmacy are great for precision application. Pick a volume and a gauge usually under a buck.",
"parent_id": "8188762",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188802",
"author": "Mayhem",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T16:59:38",
"content": "Get a high quality turbine oil for lubrication of most everything you can think of. The stuff works great and lasts a long time.https://www.supco.com/web/supco_live/products/MO98.htmlI work in HVAC/R and this stuff is great. I also used it on my Singer featherweight with great success!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188837",
"author": "KDawg",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T17:45:28",
"content": "Teletypes are like strippers… good fun to watch, use and maintenance on the other hand",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,404.788977
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/06/a-new-cartridge-for-an-old-computer/
|
A New Cartridge For An Old Computer
|
Bryan Cockfield
|
[
"News"
] |
[
"3d printing",
"assembly",
"c64",
"cartridge",
"commodore",
"demo",
"ieee spectrum",
"memory",
"programming",
"rom",
"tl866"
] |
Although largely recognizable to anyone who had a video game console in the 80s or 90s, cartridges have long since disappeared from the computing world. These squares of plastic with a few ROM modules were a major route to get software for a time, not only for consoles but for PCs as well. Perhaps most famously, the Commodore VIC-20 and Commodore 64 had cartridge slots for both gaming and other software packages. As part of the Chip Hall of Fame created by IEEE Spectrum,
[James] found himself building a Commodore cartridge more than three decades after last working in front of one of these computers
.
[James] points out that even by the standards of the early 80s the Commodore cartridges were pretty low on specs. They’re limited to 16 kB, which means programming in assembly and doing things like interacting with video hardware directly. Luckily there’s a treasure trove of documentation about the C64 nowadays as well as a number of modern programming tools for them, in contrast to the 80s when tools and documentation were scarce or nonexistent. Hardware these days is cheap as well; the cartridge PCB and other hardware cost only a few dollars, and the case for it can easily be 3D printed.
Burning the software to the $3 ROM chip was straightforward as well with a TL866 programmer, although [James] left a piece of memory management code in the first pass which caused the C64 to lock up. Removing this code and flashing the chip again got the demo up and running though, and it’ll be on display at their travelling “Chips that Changed the World” exhibit. If you find yourself in the opposite situation, though,
we’ve also seen projects that cleverly pull the data off of ancient C64 ROM chips for preservation
.
| 14
| 3
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8188592",
"author": "paulvdh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T09:23:32",
"content": "Cartridges disappeared?What about USB sticks and uSD cards?They have not disappeared, but just gotten a bit smaller.If the U.S.A was so good, then why did they invent an USB?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188671",
"author": "0xdeadbeef",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T12:09:21",
"content": "If the U.S.A was so good, then why did they invent an USB?Because one is for storing a copy of all of your data, while the other is a hardware standard. ;)",
"parent_id": "8188592",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190090",
"author": "Lawrence",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T12:39:31",
"content": "It’s a joke. . . “If Rev A was so good, why did they roll to a Rev B?”",
"parent_id": "8188671",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190134",
"author": "chango",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T13:40:37",
"content": "That may be, but 0xdeadbeef’s punchline is funnier.",
"parent_id": "8190090",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188675",
"author": "Andrew Lee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T12:15:39",
"content": "I think the Switch is a more apt example because the videogame/software cartridges contained the rom chips.There are some read only USB sticks, but they’re very uncommon.Really GBA was the last format that was the last one in the same essence of those early carts.",
"parent_id": "8188592",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188801",
"author": "albertron",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T16:54:03",
"content": "No, they are completely different. A USB stick is a mass storage device which contains a filesystem that has to be mounted in order to view the data. Any programs on it would still have to be loaded into RAM if you wanted to run it.Not so with a cartrigde, it is literally a set of ROM chips with the program data all pre loaded.When plugged in it immediately becomes part of the address space and is visible to the CPU, which can start running the program immediately, no need to load anything.That’s the difference.",
"parent_id": "8188592",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189698",
"author": "bastetfurry",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T21:28:13",
"content": "Nothing stops you from using a filesystem on your NES cart, heck, you could even have a simple mapper with a cheap 8k flash, 32k of RAM and a 16 MByte SPI flash that you access by bitbanging. Just have the 8k as your BIOS and the 32k as your system RAM. Add the 8k you can have from the SRAM storage and you have 40k to do your biddings with 16 MByte of data in your very own filesystem.",
"parent_id": "8188801",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190109",
"author": "albertron",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T13:08:59",
"content": "I totally agree, and I hope someone has made the system you described!My point about the diffence between a USB stick and a ROM cartridge still stands though. You could never turn a USB stick into a ROM cartridge, for example.",
"parent_id": "8189698",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190141",
"author": "bastetfurry",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T13:43:05",
"content": "You totally can, just cut the R/W line of the flash and tie it to ground. 😁But yeah, I get what you mean, ROMs are for the most part used memory mapped. There are exceptions though, the Lynx uses a cartridge that is read serially, the original concept even had that you could load games from tape.",
"parent_id": "8190109",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188597",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T09:39:01",
"content": "The original TL866 programmer is now vintage, too.It had bee replaced by the the TL866 II many years ago.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188622",
"author": "xChris",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T10:53:21",
"content": "yes, but not that bad esp if you want it for older EEPROMs, some of them need higher than 18V (limitation of the TL866 II) to be programmed.",
"parent_id": "8188597",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188771",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T15:56:22",
"content": "Hi, I didn’t mean it’s useless. I meant it’s too precious for daily use.Especially because it can handle older types, still. :)",
"parent_id": "8188622",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188679",
"author": "Megol",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T12:27:11",
"content": "It’s possible to have more than 16KiB ROM/RAM by using the right hardware signaling as documented.The thing I really miss is support for injecting sound or video unlike some other systems, having that could have enhanced things enormously. Another slight gotcha is that the Color RAM is on a separate bus not available on the cartridge port so expanding that isn’t really possible. :/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188724",
"author": "E. Rodommoc",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T13:41:45",
"content": "Injecting sound via the cartridge port is possible on many of the VIC-20’s (cartridge port pin-Y) but it is badly documented in many schematics and pin-outs (in most cases the pin is labelled as NC, because the earliest production batches didn’t have this feature.See VIC-20 schematic 251027-01 for example.But the fact that this info is not widely known and poorly documented combined with the fact that not all VIC-20’s have this functionality prevents developers from using it. By mentioning it here I hope to share this knowledge as it might be of use to somebody sometime.",
"parent_id": "8188679",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
}
] | 1,760,371,405.026713
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/06/google-confirms-non-adb-apk-installs-will-require-developer-registration/
|
Google Confirms Non-ADB APK Installs Will Require Developer Registration
|
Maya Posch
|
[
"Android Hacks",
"News"
] |
[
"android",
"drm"
] |
After the news cycle recently exploded with the announcement that Google would require every single Android app to be from a registered and verified developer, while killing third-party app stores and sideloading in the process, Google has now tried to put out some of the fires with
a new Q&A blog post
and a
video discussion
(also embedded below).
When
we first covered
the news, all that was known for certain was the schedule, with the first trials beginning in October of 2025 before a larger rollout the next year. One of the main questions pertained to installing apps from sources that are not the Google Play Store. The answer here is that the only way to install an app without requiring one to go through the developer verification process is by installing the app with the Android Debug Bridge, or
adb
for short.
The upcoming major release of Android 16 will feature a new process called the
Android Developer Verifier
, which will maintain a local cache of popular verified apps. The remaining ones will require a call back to the Google mothership where the full database will be maintained. In order to be a verified Android developer you must have a Google Play account, pay the $25 fee and send Google a scan of your government-provided ID. This doesn’t mean that you cannot also distribute your app also via F-Droid, it does however mean that you need to be a registered Play Store developer, negating many of the benefits of those third-party app stores.
Although Google states that they will also introduce a ‘free developer account type’, this will only allow your app to be installed on a limited number of devices, without providing an exact number so far. Effectively this would leave having users install unsigned APKs via the
adb
tool as the sole way to circumvent the new system once it is fully rolled out by 2027. On an unrelated note, Google’s blog post also is soliciting feedback from the public on these changes.
| 161
| 42
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8188478",
"author": "David",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T02:29:12",
"content": "Freedom-embracing goverments will hate this. Those with clout may force Google to make exceptions within their bordes. Freedom-hating goverments will love this, it’s one more step of a long march towards making it hard to do things anonymously online.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188484",
"author": "Mike Szczys",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T03:10:21",
"content": "I wrote my own Android recipe app and have used it for a decade now. It’s just for me and my family (althoughyou can use it if you wantbecause I like to give back to open source in any way possible.) I have no interest in being a professional developer or applying for approval from the big G. This policy sucks.",
"parent_id": "8188478",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188764",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T15:40:35",
"content": "if you just want to use it yourself, you just build an unsigned / debug build and upload it with adb, what’s the big deal? that’s how it was when i started with android 15 years ago",
"parent_id": "8188484",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188849",
"author": "Joe Freeman",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T18:05:54",
"content": "My family isn’t going to build anything or upload via ADB. Today I can just put the adb on a share and they can download and run it",
"parent_id": "8188764",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188852",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T18:23:43",
"content": "i agree it’s less convenient but you don’t think your family will let you plug a cable into their phone for 5 minutes?",
"parent_id": "8188849",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189241",
"author": "Sword",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T09:17:20",
"content": "You shouldn’tneedto use adb to install it (also that will only work for NOW). What if Microsoft blocked Steam on Windows? Would you still say “Yeah but you could still load games from CD?”That is what you are doing.",
"parent_id": "8188764",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189540",
"author": "Nero",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T17:51:34",
"content": "Extremely short-sighted, there is absolutely no reason for them to restrict this, this is not security issue its just control, if i want someone to install an apk anywhere in the world i need to be verified by google? Fk that",
"parent_id": "8188764",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190098",
"author": "th3r00t",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T12:53:24",
"content": "You are the problem. Its not googles business what we run on our devices. This is a move by big brother. You sound like them.",
"parent_id": "8188764",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190653",
"author": "Cos M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T08:56:21",
"content": "Point is that you shouldn’t have to sideload an app via ADB if you want to downgrade app versions",
"parent_id": "8188764",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188543",
"author": "Hassi",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T07:29:20",
"content": "what about webapps? No need to install, just create a shortcut on your home screen. sure, you need to be online to use it…",
"parent_id": "8188478",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188548",
"author": "Cory Johnson",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T07:41:26",
"content": "PWAs can be made to work offline by using a service worker. You only need to be online once to download the app, then it stays cached on your device.",
"parent_id": "8188543",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188583",
"author": "Victor",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T09:05:40",
"content": "When google goes full Apple and makes us use the built-in webapp replete with PrIvAcY sAnDbOx, PWAs will not be satisfactory. Let’s not paint ourselves into a corner.",
"parent_id": "8188543",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188584",
"author": "Victor",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T09:06:44",
"content": "I meant built in webview, intending to allude to the sheer ridiculousness that third party browsers on iphones just use safari to render the page under the hood.",
"parent_id": "8188583",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188618",
"author": "frenchone",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T10:50:08",
"content": "There’s a lot you can’t do with web apps",
"parent_id": "8188543",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188765",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T15:42:39",
"content": "i agree that there’s a lot idon’t want to dowith web apps but my general impression has been that the pile ofcan’t dohas become vanishingly small over time. can you name an example?",
"parent_id": "8188618",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188794",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T16:32:34",
"content": "Access local storage, effectively use your CPU, use your GPU at all.Unless you find a zero day you’re stuck with workarounds like uploading first, cloud storage or rendering in VRML.Main point, JS just sucks balls.JS is like butt sex.The claimed advantage is that it ‘works the same for everyone’ hence better.Nope!",
"parent_id": "8188765",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188853",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T18:25:39",
"content": "sure you can access local storage from web apps, though it’s a pain to get at anything other than private storage. which is already the norm on android.web apps get great cpu and gpu access. especially if you’re willing to focus on a target like ‘mobile chrome’. i think you’re out of date.",
"parent_id": "8188765",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188891",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:24:58",
"content": "‘Effectively use your CPU’Sure you can bog it down with interpreted crap, effectively means not wasting 99% on overhead.Use a non-standard mobile chrome only way (what was the point of web apps again?)What’s the syntax for opening a local file in JS in a browser?I’d rather it couldn’t…",
"parent_id": "8188765",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188898",
"author": "Adikso",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:32:42",
"content": "Sending TCP/UDP packets other than HTTP/Websocket. You can’t read hackaday RSS with your app because of CORS – basically very limited what you can access via internet. Integration with calendar. Bluetooth usable outside of Chromium. No home screen widgets. I don’t think GPS tracking would work reliably in PWA.",
"parent_id": "8188765",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188903",
"author": "Miguel",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:48:38",
"content": "Didn’t apple got a slap on the wrist by the EU and was obliged to open sideload apps, under European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA)I’ll grab the popcorn bucket…",
"parent_id": "8188478",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189346",
"author": "zhecht",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T13:13:13",
"content": "Yes, and the EU approved Apple’s solution which still requires developers to register and pay $99/year to sign apps before they can be sideloaded. Google’s $25/once registration (or free for a hobbyist account) is still much better than Apple.",
"parent_id": "8188903",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189647",
"author": "DAVID GARCIA",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T20:06:27",
"content": "I’m pretty sure this whole idea is that so they can stop pirate apps basically that you access services without paying for them that’s the whole idea of doing this that’s why Google’s information policy in the original idea they’ll all say for its safety they’ll say it’s the protect kids because that’ll get people’s attention the masses reality is it to stop you from pirating music and movies and getting paid apps for free cuz you can do that on a lot of the stores too I’ve seen them I found at least a dozens of them but when downloading them you do get a risk of getting a virus or spyware of course common Sense applies but I’ll use a legit example as a reason why there’s a the use of these pirate amps AccuWeather the weather application they have a lifetime subscription 10 15 years ago it was only $10 I purchased that while as of last year they stopped supporting that lifetime subscription was to pay for a yearly subscription now even all day that honor the people that pay the lifetime one so there’s an example why you would download the app that’s mowed so so that you get what you already paid for with them another good example is to Amazon at the store they pulled their app store off of Android devices now you can still course uses on the fire tablets salon but you can no longer download the Amazon app store for an Amazon device so I had games like bejeweled 2 purchase years ago I have bought on Amazon and Google Play while the Google Play says it’s no longer able to work on devices it was still working on the Amazon app store so I was able to download all my Android phones and stuff like that well now that the store shut down on August 20th I know it’s the game no longer works and you can’t purchase a new copy because it’s not been updated to meet this current standards of today’s Android even though it’s still worked so I had a pirate that too and that’s a legit game I purchased so it’s kind of you know they’re trying to stop us from downloading stuff like that and start looking for the cat phrases when they implement these policies when it comes with side loading amps to prevent applications that have c**************** on them to prevent stuff that is bad or the supports terrorists true it may be out there some stuff but that’s what they’re going to use to scare us to support this whole thing thinking it’s protecting us I think people need to know what their downloading first the staff restricting us Android was all about freedom if they’re going this route I might as well just go buy three new iPhones and just call it a day and don’t even buy any new Android devices anymore if could buy some from about 2 years ago. They’ll still work with all these applications as a new information doesn’t go on the fact until a few years",
"parent_id": "8189346",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191289",
"author": "volt-k",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T21:42:13",
"content": "That’s a lot of words with no punctation whatsoever.",
"parent_id": "8189647",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188973",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T22:14:14",
"content": "…There are freedom-embracing governments? Are they accepting visa applications?",
"parent_id": "8188478",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189030",
"author": "Aknup",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T00:33:35",
"content": "Allowing foreigners into this freedom-embracing secret country would not be beneficial to staying freedom-embracing I would expect.It’s the old Allen conundrum “I would not want to be a member of a club that would allow me to be a member.”",
"parent_id": "8188973",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190390",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T20:26:27",
"content": "I don’t know which Allen your talking about…Google returns shyster BS for ‘Allen conundrum’.He stole it from Groucho Marx.",
"parent_id": "8189030",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190758",
"author": "Aknup",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T15:21:49",
"content": "I was referring to Woody Allen of course.But perhaps it was Marx, where you probably should not only use the last namewhen naming him as a source :) That would be even worse than only using ‘Allen’.Although, perhaps Marx would invoke hysteria in less people than W. Allen? Not sure",
"parent_id": "8190390",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189650",
"author": "DAVID GARCIA",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T20:09:19",
"content": "Interesting you mentioned that there’s a few states in the US that are trying to ban vpns now think about this one Google implements this policy. This will stop you from downloading a VPN because of that state or bandit or that country like China Russia for example bam vpns there’s one state in the US that’s trying to do the same thing they’re using the cat phrases like I mentioned one of my comments on here trying to protect people from c**************** that’s their favorite one or supporting terrorist activity that’s another one. Y’all hear that from both sides of the aisle does it matter what presidents in the White House theater or what shade of skin color they are Muslim Christian black white it doesn’t matter it’s all the same. But if Google is playing on doing this where I’m getting this you won’t be all the downloader pirate version of VPN either to get around some State restrictions because if that’s still loud you could download it by side loading a VPN application even directly from a legit VPN company if the website itself is not blocked third party app store. Google is worried about people getting paid amps for free and that’s what all this policies are bought. Hopefully the federal or even the state will put a stop to that",
"parent_id": "8188973",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189658",
"author": "micro mike",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T20:20:40",
"content": "Punctuation, man. Punctuation.",
"parent_id": "8189650",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191333",
"author": "Bitpy",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T00:22:02",
"content": "So Windows requires an account to use and now Android is restricting APK installs. (IOS has mostly been locked down – jailbreaking is a pain). Haven’t looked at Mac lately – I think you need an account when you install the OS and installing an unverified application is only slightly annoying.It seems like you’ll need Linux if you want unrestricted access to your compute device.",
"parent_id": "8188478",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188485",
"author": "A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T03:13:47",
"content": "Might as well just buy an iPhone at this point.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188581",
"author": "fhunter",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T09:04:30",
"content": "Just get rid of smartphone.",
"parent_id": "8188485",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188635",
"author": "G-man",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T11:24:18",
"content": "This is becoming a stronger possibility in my future. “My phone” was paid for by me using money I earned and I’ll not be told how I can use it.",
"parent_id": "8188581",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188691",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T12:44:34",
"content": "Actually having that as a plausible choice could be a rather tricky thing now – in the UK this digital ID type crap they are bringing in at least is suggesting a direction of travel where you are not able to exist as a legal citizen/visitor without in the UK for example. And you banking app is a more global issue.Not that I disagree if you can do without you should, as a computer with a modem of some sort (should WWAN matter to you) is probably the right choice. Folks are generally chatting on whichever social media IRC type chat/voice call platform they use rather than using SMS or mobile telephony element of the smartphone now it seems to me – so what you actually need is the data link to the internet, and you can have that on a device you actually more honestly own. (though in theory you can use a PC WWAN modem for voice calls it seems a bit of a minefield).",
"parent_id": "8188581",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188976",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T22:16:17",
"content": "Only viable for a tiny percentage of the population. It’s cantankerous to pretend this is generally an available option.",
"parent_id": "8188581",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189025",
"author": "fhunter",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T00:22:28",
"content": "And what stops you? No, seriously?",
"parent_id": "8188976",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189501",
"author": "Cogidubnus Rex",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T17:09:09",
"content": "What stops you? Ask Iphone owners.Sure you can hook it up to a computer and sideload with adb – what percentage of Android owners own a computer, rather than just using their mobile as their sole computing device? Likely not huge, but that’s them out the picture. Then those with a computer capable of running adb, how many have the confidence to try something like that (I and you know it’s as easy as copy paste a command, but some will be wary)?Then you’ve got the problem if you’re out and about and want to sideload an app you need, but ultimately need to wait till you’re next at a computer.",
"parent_id": "8189025",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188728",
"author": "Zangar the Pangarian",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T14:04:03",
"content": "No. Don’t get me wrong. I’m no fan of this change! But it’s still a long way from iPhone.First, you can still side load an app as long as the author registers. Apple won’t let you do that. You have to install the Apple app from their store. The difference is that means Apple has to approve the app itself before you can have it. It sounds like a registered developer can offer side loaded apps all they want without Google approving the individual apps. That is still a difference even if it is not as good as before.Then there is the ADB loophole. I don’t see the non-tech masses installing your anonymous app via ADB. But HaD types should have no problem doing so.So yah, it’s a step in the wrong direction but it still is better than Apple. I don’t say this to stick up for Google by any means. But if everyone just threw up their hands, gave up and switched to Apple then side loading would truly be dead.",
"parent_id": "8188485",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188736",
"author": "Duncan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T14:22:37",
"content": "There are /currently/ trip ways to avoid needing Google to approve your app. They have changed the deal though, and you can only pray they don’t change it again",
"parent_id": "8188728",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188767",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T15:44:35",
"content": "They will change it again. They will change it again. Use critical analysis. Actually compare the two.Apple is an unusable walled garden today. Google is behaving in such a way that you reasonably suspect they will be an unusable walled garden someday.Nothing is forever. If you’re buying a phone or developing an app today, look at the world today. It’s a bummer to tie your investment to a sinking ship but that’s software! That’s the air we breathe.",
"parent_id": "8188736",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188917",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T20:12:25",
"content": "Apple is an unusable walled garden today. Google is behaving in such a way that you reasonably suspect they will be an unusable walled garden somedayPersonally much as I don’t like Apple I’d loose the ‘un’ as they are actually quite useable with a more stable direction of travel in their hardware and software eco-system. Google are looking like they will take all the worst bits of Apple and use them to replace all the good points they once had, without fixing any of their flaws either…Certainly wouldn’t suggest going out of your way for either of them – for me I’m holding out hope this will push enough development time and some marketing budget into the Linux phone market – it is already seemingly a valid enough option if you do some of the legwork yourself, and could become turnkey easy off the shelf one good for normies and the techie.",
"parent_id": "8188767",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188854",
"author": "stoneburner",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T18:25:44",
"content": "You can just installhttps://altstore.ioon any iPhone and install anything you like",
"parent_id": "8188728",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188867",
"author": "V",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T18:56:46",
"content": "My life is already full of enough pointless inconvenience without jumping through hoops just to update the apps on my phone. Android has been terrible for a while, this is the last straw.",
"parent_id": "8188728",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188486",
"author": "Blufires",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T03:20:21",
"content": "It sounds like this is just a way to stop people installing Revanced Manager unless the devs out themselves so Google’s lawyers can harass them for making 100% legal and non-infringing software.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188768",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T15:52:47",
"content": "googled “revanced apk”, clicked the first download link i found, ran it through apksigner verify –print-certs, and it appears to be signed by a valid release key, not an “Android Debug” key. It could happen but so far i haven’t seen evidence that google is denying developer keys to people based on the content of their apps. Even though they very much are policing the play store itself.",
"parent_id": "8188486",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188843",
"author": "nitro2k01",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T17:53:05",
"content": "Don’t Google it and click the first link. ReVanced’s domain is revanced.app. Any other site (that’s not directly linked from there) is potential malware.ReVanced, when used as intended by the developers, takes a YouTube APK on your device, patches it, and installs it on the same device. They do this to avoid having to redistribute code copyrighted by Google. It’s that second step of installing the patched APK that will likely fail to work because it’s a newly generated file that will not match a valid signature.Maybe they could get around that by preparing signatures and make sure the patched output matches a prepared signature. But still means that at some point they will sign code copyrighted by Google with their own key which, if it’s not already against Google’s contract, could be made contractually illegal at any time.In that worst case scenario, you could still potentially self sign as a user, or install via ADB. But if Google has made ReVanced inconvenient enough that 99% of people who want to use it practically can’t, they’ve essentially fulfilled their objective of killing it off.",
"parent_id": "8188768",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188856",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T18:27:30",
"content": "well yes google’s tool to prevent you from making unauthorized changes to an apk will prevent you from making unauthorized changes to one of their own apks. you’re saying that in the future, your work around will need a work around. yes. water wet.",
"parent_id": "8188843",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188489",
"author": "Randlin",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T03:26:59",
"content": "The only way we can work around this on stock roms I think ishttps://shizuku.rikka.app/.Long live custom roms!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188501",
"author": "Cody",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T04:38:21",
"content": "I would imagine that rooting and de-googling the phone would also work, at least for current Android versions. That’s what I will be doing. Unfortunately, there are no custom ROMs available for my phone.",
"parent_id": "8188489",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188617",
"author": "Shannon",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T10:47:26",
"content": "How would that work around the requirement to sign an app for it to run? Does it have an alternate runtime?",
"parent_id": "8188489",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188652",
"author": "G-man",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T11:40:07",
"content": "Shizuku and Canta are excellent tools!",
"parent_id": "8188489",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188490",
"author": "PJ 003",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T03:28:15",
"content": "inaxcetable google dictat0rafter ALL THE CRAP re capchat i m not a ROBOT ENOFF F,,,,…-– GOOGLEI PAID MY phone i make with i want with IT !GOOGLE ENOFF IS ENOFFF ––BACK OFF GOOGLE -*-",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191293",
"author": "volt-k",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T21:47:04",
"content": "Where’s the “report” button?",
"parent_id": "8188490",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188493",
"author": "Nick",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T03:44:07",
"content": "Looks like my comment that used a 4-letter word starting with the letter “F” has been sent to a moderation queue. That’s totally fair enough. But I will state again, that anything on a phone that requires me to upload a photo of my ID will not be tolerated. In the name of some vague idea of “security” for some other party, it genuinely reduces my own security. A drivers licence is for driving. A passport is for passing through ports. Any other use is contrary to their design and insecure. I’d be happy toshowID to a human. But I would not let a business, or a bar, or a restaurant, take a digital copy.I’d love someone to automate making fake pictures for these kinds of services. Some kind of script where I can input a photo and receive a plausible-looking “ID” in return. Seems like something ripe for an AI.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188544",
"author": "Hassi",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T07:30:42",
"content": "so you don’t have a SIM-Card?",
"parent_id": "8188493",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188579",
"author": "Victor",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T09:03:48",
"content": "Sim cards are for simming /sReally though, if a sim was all that was needed for phone things, we wouldn’t be raging in this comments section, so whatever the implications of your glib rhetorical question might be, the premise is invalid.Btw, I don’t have a (physical) sim-card.We bought the device. Fingerprint it if you want, which is what a sim amounts to, but let me install my sketchy apks, that’s what I bought the thing for in the first place.But that’s not what I’m mad about. I’m mad that F-droid will be decimated by this policy.Email the google mobile strategy execs about this. I have. Their emails are on the press releases.",
"parent_id": "8188544",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188665",
"author": "Sword",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T12:01:23",
"content": "A SIM card has my name, current address, identifying information and a number that can literally be used to steal my identity?Oh no it doesn’t. It has a subscriber number that is only used by my service provider.. Thats it.",
"parent_id": "8188544",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188784",
"author": "David",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T16:14:53",
"content": "What does having a SIM card have to do with any of that?",
"parent_id": "8188544",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189672",
"author": "DAVID GARCIA",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T20:33:53",
"content": "Like my original comment I left up at two of them on here the idea that people like him is trying to say stuff like SIM card is there using it as a way to say if we download third party apps they’re not verified on Google you’re downloading c**************** and other appropriate stuff that’s what they’re trying to say and that’s where they’re going with this that’s why they’re supporting Google and banning it people from downloading third party ounce because they’re getting his application for free and he’s losing money that’s all it’s a boss protecting their revenue the reason why I use childbenography as a example is because people are going to use that to scare us to agree oh we need a bandage amps because that’s what’s going to be on them that’s what the current political system will use anyways in the US they’re always going to use scare tactics the guess the submit to their ideas I think most of us already know the risk when we download third party apps and the download good antivirus application to attack against some of this stuff so he won’t get caught with links to lead to unappropriate content or a virus like some of the casino games I was playing they were scams and you can download them right off of Google Play store and then they have advertising within them that says you can win this and win cash reality is they never pay out and then advertising and it’ll take you to third party apps they’re scams including one that downloaded something on my phone had to use Malwarebytes to get rid of that trash and that was just off of the legit download off of the Google Play store",
"parent_id": "8188784",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191295",
"author": "volt-k",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T21:59:54",
"content": "Please stop with this unintelligible gibberish.",
"parent_id": "8189672",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188663",
"author": "Sword",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T11:59:40",
"content": "Discordjustgot hacked and lost a bunch of UK photo ID’s…",
"parent_id": "8188493",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188770",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T15:55:22",
"content": "Do you develop android apps? Do you develop apps for other people’s Android phones?",
"parent_id": "8188493",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188495",
"author": "Jake",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T03:51:28",
"content": "Here is what I sent on the feedback form:The new Android developer verification requirements as described are absolutely atrocious and will destroy Android. These requirements negate the ultimate platform-defining feature of Android that makes it better than iOS: being able to control your own device whether online, fully offline, or otherwise. Mandating that users must check in with ‘Big Brother’ Google every time they want to install an app is something Apple would be expected to do, not Google. The developer verification requirement sounds like it came straight out of Orwell’s 1984, or even worse, Cupertino.To be absolutely clear, these requirements should not be implemented. However, it takes a special level of gall from Google to not even provide an option to turn this Orwellian feature off. At least allow power users and developers to be able to install what they want at will with a toggle.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188667",
"author": "Sword",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T12:05:01",
"content": "“At least allow power users and developers to be able to install what they want at will with a toggle.”I mean that was already the case with Play Protect and “Unverified Apps” toggle tucked away in the developer settings.This is Google walling up the Garden to extract more $$ and information",
"parent_id": "8188495",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188738",
"author": "Duncan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T14:27:30",
"content": "Is there any way to get a phone to connect to its own ADB port? I vaguely remember there is ADB-over-wifi?",
"parent_id": "8188495",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189333",
"author": "Mrdef",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T12:29:27",
"content": "Yes, some apps can already do this.",
"parent_id": "8188738",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189355",
"author": "hwertz",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T13:42:44",
"content": "There is a wifi adb app. I just tried running it on my Unihertz and the momernt I hit the ‘on’ switch it says ‘This app requires a rooted device and superuser permission.’. My previous phone was on fact rooted. This one is easy to root, intentionally (they picked specs based on a Kickstarter so of course one would want to be able to root their own phone if they want.)But anyway, once you’ve rooted and have su you could certainly bypass restrictions anyway.",
"parent_id": "8188738",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189719",
"author": "Kaienji",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T21:57:43",
"content": "Huh, i have a similar app aswell and it works without root. I just sometimes need to use floating windows or split screen to pair the app with phone’s wifi adb. The app or rather APPS are “Bugjaeger” and “ADB Shell – Debug toolbox”",
"parent_id": "8189355",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189723",
"author": "Kaienji",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T22:01:45",
"content": "Try an app called Bugjaeger or the app “ADB Shell – Debug toolbox” for doing adb stuff without pc. Of course there are some commands that don’t work without a pc (for me atleast, most people don’t really need those commands)",
"parent_id": "8188738",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189001",
"author": "Rolf",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T23:11:32",
"content": "When I changed from iPhone to Android, I thought “android lets me download and install apk apps! I would rarely be using this feature but this is the kind of people I want designing my mobile OS”",
"parent_id": "8188495",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188497",
"author": "Jacob",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T04:21:40",
"content": "Somehow, despite absolutely every horrible thing every massive tech company has been doing for the last several years, Google has finally found a way for me to hate them more than every single company in Silicon Valley combined. Truly impressive.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188511",
"author": "Cyk",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T05:46:22",
"content": "*-holes doing *-hole things.More news at 11.I’ll probably ditch my phone completely and instead build a linux pocket computer with 5G modem.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188533",
"author": "Ivo",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T07:12:02",
"content": "For years I have been waiting for open source based mobile phone. Unfortunately, all those who have tried have failed to gain enough of momentum or critical mass. Why? From what I have seen it was chip manufacturers protecting their intelectual property. Without good quality hardware you can not succeed on the market. Too bad. I would really like it!",
"parent_id": "8188511",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188880",
"author": "W",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:12:07",
"content": "5G really is the achilles heel here. All the phones that are well supported by free software lack 5G connectivity and it’s unfortunately necessary where I live.",
"parent_id": "8188511",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189026",
"author": "fhunter",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T00:25:54",
"content": "You mean you do not have 4G coverage but have 5G?",
"parent_id": "8188880",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188514",
"author": "Benjamin Henrion",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T06:04:30",
"content": "Google can revoke your developer account for the apps they don’t like (security, insert another excuse here). Sorry folks, but the security of the app i develop for alternative stores (including websites) isnone of your business.Goodbye F-Droid.We need an upgrade of the EU DMA to tackle this.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188527",
"author": "Daid",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T06:59:23",
"content": "We need an upgrade of the EU DMA to tackle this.I’m quite sure there are very strict laws here already about collecting and storing government IDs. I remember on several occasions where I had to use my ID and they had to place it in a special scanner that would strip out certain details (they explained because I asked). So asking for flat copies of my ID is very likely already a violation of some law. My job was very clear on “Do NOT email us your passport, we will scan it here and blank out the parts we are not allowed to store. And an email goes into the backup system and is hard to scrub”Having my government ID stored in some database in another country does not sit well with me as well. There are plenty of other ways to verify someones identity as well. Hell, as you have to pay $25 (another problem on it’s own as well) you could use the bank transfer as ID. Yes, you can get anonymous bank accounts, but you just won’t accept those as ID.",
"parent_id": "8188514",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188669",
"author": "Sword",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T12:07:17",
"content": "I mean the EU Chat Control law is still being pitched. “It doesn’t break end to end encryption”….no it just reads the stuff on both sides….",
"parent_id": "8188527",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188523",
"author": "pigster",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T06:56:06",
"content": "As i understand it – only installing apps from phone will be disabled – adb (through usb cable or wifi) will still allow sideloading. Is this really a problem? If you want to really install custom apk, you will still be able to without root or custom rom, you will just need to use cable.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188531",
"author": "Daid",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T07:02:18",
"content": "I dare you to explain in 10 words or less how to use ADB on a fresh phone to install an APK.“Download the APK and press ‘yes, I really want this'” is all that is needed right now, the ADB route is about 100x as complex.",
"parent_id": "8188523",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188772",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T15:56:44",
"content": "It’s not a bad thing that the over-60 crowd will not be able to figure out how to install malware",
"parent_id": "8188531",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188781",
"author": "Cuthbert",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T16:10:43",
"content": "It has been rightly pointed out that the over-60 crowd don’t sideload APKs. They get their malware right from the Play Store.",
"parent_id": "8188772",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188804",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T17:03:57",
"content": "The ‘over-60 crowd’ built everything useful on the net.The ‘under-40 crowd’ have built steaming fly covered towers of java script (never heard or ‘angle of repose’).At least one reportedly requires more than one ‘software engineer’ per UI element (Facebook), just for maintenance.That said, over-60s also realize that phones are appliances.They really suck as primary computers.Really really suck big wet cheesy donkey balls.Rainbow colored puss oozing from multiple boils on donkey balls (‘social media apps’).Digressing again.Defense: Is harvest season.E85 is pure Indica, boot to the head.Haze makes me want to post on shitty sites.",
"parent_id": "8188781",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188948",
"author": "A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T21:13:55",
"content": "So we all have to get Harrison Bergeron’d for them?",
"parent_id": "8188772",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188553",
"author": "Cory Johnson",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T07:48:07",
"content": "It’s an annoying extra step. Sometimes you are far away from a laptop or desktop and need to install some half-baked app that’s only distributed as an apk on GitHub. Google killing this is another proof that their greatest desire is to become Apple, not to make exceptional phones.",
"parent_id": "8188523",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188698",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T12:54:55",
"content": "For many folks it seems they don’t even have a laptop or desktop as they do everything on their phone! a “debug bridge” shouldn’t be the only possible way to install what you wish to install!",
"parent_id": "8188553",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188609",
"author": "xChris",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T10:14:51",
"content": "oh yea…. some people panic for no reason",
"parent_id": "8188523",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188717",
"author": "Sword",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T13:27:40",
"content": "You would be singing a different tune if Microsoft banned steam and we were telling you “its no big deal you can install a game from a cd. “",
"parent_id": "8188609",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188621",
"author": "frenchone",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T10:53:05",
"content": "you will just need to use cable.next step : remove cable",
"parent_id": "8188523",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188653",
"author": "G-man",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T11:44:35",
"content": "“We’ve removed the USB port because the phone charges wirelessly”",
"parent_id": "8188621",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188710",
"author": "fhunter",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T13:09:02",
"content": "Is this really a problem?Yes, it is. I have firefox + updater app installed on the phone. updater checks for updates and installs fresh version on request. This requires only the phone itself. Nothing more.Not PC, working adb drivers, working adb setup and the like. Guess who will have outdated apps in that case?",
"parent_id": "8188523",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188774",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T15:57:36",
"content": "Firefox is an example of an app that already has certified developer keys and will still have certified developer keys in the future.",
"parent_id": "8188710",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188857",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T18:28:23",
"content": "You say that, but as its one of the last competitors to Googles own browser that already has a near monopoly on browsers – so I’d not put it past google to revoke that certification one day. Thinest of excuses required to then spend a few years fighting with whichever government might have the balls to go after them if any and they can own everyone…",
"parent_id": "8188774",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188972",
"author": "Daniel",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T22:13:05",
"content": "Hm, does anyone know if adbd is bound to localhost?",
"parent_id": "8188523",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188525",
"author": "Swake",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T06:58:36",
"content": "What is the sign with that most midlest finger on a hand already? Ho, look I have two of those!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188809",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T17:08:52",
"content": "Means ‘May you have many sons’.In Papua.Is the nicest gesture that can be made at a man.Great honor and respect!",
"parent_id": "8188525",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188980",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T22:20:27",
"content": "I’m told that in France it once meant “Ha! I cut off your bow finger and now you can’t shoot arrows and I can!” but that might be apocryphal, I don’t know.",
"parent_id": "8188809",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189243",
"author": "frenchone",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T09:19:01",
"content": "Nobody use this gesture of defiance in France.It is supposed to have been used by english archers to mean “I still got my fingers” in response to a (doubtfull) command by french dignitaries to cut the fingers of bowmen.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_sign#Origins",
"parent_id": "8188980",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188529",
"author": "John",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T07:01:20",
"content": "I guess it’s time for the development of a new mobile platform operating system perhaps based on Linux that will replace Android phones. It’s a shame that Google has decided to completely ruin the Android platform.The world will create a new open source mobile platform that will replace Android and see if Google likes that option.It will take time but eventually Android will go away.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188824",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T17:14:10",
"content": "It’s best to think of the software you are working on as a drop of raw sewage being aeriated at the treatment plant.You will only be responsible for it for a little while, it will eventually settle to the bottom, with all the obsolete stuff.Getting too attached to code is madness, how you get the Linux kernel or TempleOS.",
"parent_id": "8188529",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188541",
"author": "arcturus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T07:27:05",
"content": "This is not ok on so many levels. Google does not own my phone, period. I generally avoid google play since it’s full of ad/malware. This will effectively kill all open source apps, and these are what makes my phone useable.I’m writing this from a phone running linux based SailfishOS. I’m hoping more people can discover the alternatives to Android in the future (PostmarketOS, Droidian, Mobian, etc.) It’s not yet ready for most people, but a lot of the people visiting HAD would probably be ok with loosing some features to gain A LOT of freedom.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188547",
"author": "arcturus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T07:34:49",
"content": "I meant to say that all the good open source apps made my ANDROID phone useable. I’m using mostly open source sw on my sailfishOS phone too. But the first part of my post just turned out wrong.",
"parent_id": "8188541",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188558",
"author": "tyler",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T08:01:40",
"content": "Exclusively jola and sony phones, are you kidding me?",
"parent_id": "8188541",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188568",
"author": "arcturus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T08:32:10",
"content": "I’m using both a jolla phone and a oneplus6. There are quite a few unofficial ports. You are not limited to jolla or sony.",
"parent_id": "8188558",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189746",
"author": "Rick C",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T23:19:01",
"content": "I’d love to do something like that but none of them work with modern damaging phones.",
"parent_id": "8188541",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188559",
"author": "Wernsey",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T08:05:23",
"content": "Our Android app is part of a larger integrated system that we provide to our (enterprise) customers. Our customers trust us. We’ve built a good relationship with them through the quality of our product and our excellent support. They know our system is secure (in fact, our security is one of our selling points).I think the main reason I don’t like this is that Google wants to insert themselves into this relationship with our customers.In theory, they may one day, for some arbitrary reason decide that we’re not trustworthy, and then through this mechanism prevent our customers from installing our software on phones that they (our customers) own.Couple this with Google’s reputation that decisions like that cannot be appealed, let alone reversed, and it feels like a recipe for disaster.For background, our users typically use our app from a company issued phone. We just give them a QR code that takes them to the APK that they then sideload.We don’t need to be on the Play store for marketing or monetization of our product. Users who access our system through the app number in the hundreds, not thousands or millions. The only benefit we’d get from putting our app on the Play store is that it would make distributing updates easier, but even then most of the work in our system is done server side so we haven’t deployed an update in the past year.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188776",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T15:58:48",
"content": "Your company already jumps through the hoops to be google-certified, and will continue to do so.",
"parent_id": "8188559",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189291",
"author": "Wernsey",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T11:03:42",
"content": "No, that’s precisely the opposite of how we currently work. To get our app to our customers, I downloaded ReactNative, created the app, and made the APK available on our company’s download site (download.ourcompany.com).Google is not part of any of that. We’re not google certified, we didn’t jump through any hoops, and that wouldn’t have had to change if Google didn’t start talking about certifying developers.",
"parent_id": "8188776",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188585",
"author": "Sammie Gee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T09:07:39",
"content": "IMHO, Google, seeing itself as the Verizon (Apple seeing itself as Comcast, or, maybe it is the other way around, no matter) now starts taking steps removing any resemblance of the competition.Call me paranoid, but I was wondering which cell service providers won’t just brick my phone if/when they suddenly find something they don’t like (and I am not aware of) on my phone. Since I rely on my cell phone in case of emergencies, I am afraid I am stuck with their unquestionable communist party choices in exchange for the cell phone service. Glad I do not rely on it to do my banking, or other mission-critical tasks (paperwork) and can always fallback into real-world (albeit, much slower) routines not dominated by the cell phone usage :]",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188627",
"author": "Shannon",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T11:00:51",
"content": "You can pretend that a private company doing whatever it likes in order to “maximise shareholder value” is anything but capitalism gone mad if you want, but that mostly seems like “Anything I don’t like is communism”.",
"parent_id": "8188585",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188727",
"author": "RunnerPack",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T13:53:32",
"content": "Capitalism is, by definition, multiple parties doing business on a level playing field to the mutual benefit of all involved. Therefore, “capitalism gone mad” as you put it, is no longer capitalism, but something else. In this case, I wouldn’t say communism, but more like fascism (in the true sense, not the way the left and legacy media use it to refer to anyone they disagree with). It may be “soft” fascism, where the Google elites think they’re doing something for the common good, but the effect is the same: short-sighted, heavy-handed manipulation of what should be an open market, to the detriment of all.",
"parent_id": "8188627",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188732",
"author": "Shannon",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T14:11:16",
"content": "Neither a level playing field nor mutual benefit are included in any definition of capitalism I’ve ever heard. Capitalism is defined by the means of production being owned by private interests, the motivation of profit, and a market with little or no oversight; that’s exactly the case with Google here, Google is a private company motivated by profit not being held to any (relevant) laws. The problem with the Google elites being elite is a problem of the compounding effect of absolute capitalism: money making money making money etc.Expecting a level playing field and mutual benefit to all from capitalism is just a strange religious belief being pushed by the people who benefit from it.",
"parent_id": "8188727",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188780",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T16:07:57",
"content": "There’s an interesting bit of trivia from Marx, which i learned from Lenin (a chapter titled “Imperialism as a special stage of capitalism”). Capitalism doesn’t have one static definition, but rather is a stage in the history of the world. In the early years, it unseats the monarchy, it encourages the creation of level playing fields for mutual benefit (with many caveats), it encourages commodification and even standardization. But as it matures, it takes on a different character, and eventually takes on many of the opposite characteristics. Capitalism has all of these things within it. Love it or hate it, let’s not simplify it.",
"parent_id": "8188732",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188830",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T17:21:19",
"content": "Learning about capitalism from Marxist philosophy is juststupid!Start with ‘Wealth of Nations’.It has market regulation in the ‘definition’ right from the beginning.Just not the kind of ‘market regulation’ that commies want.Also note.Commies (Marx and Engels) made predictions about the course of capitalism.It’s on paper and completely wrong!Everything is not a commodity and profits are not zero.Marx and Engels would have both benefited from reading andunderstanding‘Wealth of Nations’.Saved the world countless megadeaths.",
"parent_id": "8188732",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189071",
"author": "LordNothing",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T02:26:29",
"content": "cronyism or crony capitalism is the term i use for it. i also like to use free market in front of “normal” capitalism for the positive connotation of the term. what we have now is mostly cronyism. free market capitalism had been on the back slide ever since microsoft figured out they could just lobby for anything they wanted. possibly before then.the only thing that separates fascism from communism in my book is national identity. one pushes it and one tries to stamp it out. at the end of the day the government owns all the things, controls all the things, and people do what they are told or end up in a gulag/concentration camp (only the names are different). neither has accomplished anything of merit, unless you consider body count a merit. capitalism’s failure modes have been a lot harder to pin down. every system of government is still subject to the second law of thermodynamics. when things fail hard enough humans hit the reset button and start over.",
"parent_id": "8188727",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188699",
"author": "Yaky",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T12:55:25",
"content": "Google + T-Mobile just killed RCS on my phone. (Some server migration from what I could tell) Good thing I did not have any important RCS chats, but I am sure some people did.Oh and T-Mobile is phasing out LTE. Throw all of those phones in the trash and buy new ones!",
"parent_id": "8188585",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188778",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T16:00:42",
"content": "Not sure the cause but my experience of this sort of situation is that Google about 3-5 years ago started monkeying with the stock Messages app on android. All sorts of confusing appearing-and-disappearing functionality. Nagging pop ups, blatant spam, slowness. Just really making a disaster out of a core phone app that i used to take for granted. I think that kind of unforced error is a much bigger indictment of Android than the headline in this article is.",
"parent_id": "8188699",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189018",
"author": "Sammie Gee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T00:06:28",
"content": "Had to study parts of “Wealth of Nations”, yes, “Imperialism, the highest stage of Capitalism” and the five signs thereof were on my test. Winter of 1987/1988. Let’s see, “Chapter 1: Concentration of Production and Monopolies” – monopolies, that’s the word. Monopolies, obviously, concentrate capital and become capital monopolies, too. Hence, any liberal capitalism one way or the other gravitates towards becoming monopoly capitalism, ie, capital serving the monopolies.Unrelated, the derogatory term “communist party choices” referred to the (mostly complete) lack of responsibility, direct or indirect, for the actions taken. Investors’ short-term profits, no, responsibility to its customers. Investors-driven short-term profit strip-mining should be one of many goals, but not the only one, otherwise it does resemble communist party – unrelated to either communism or socialism economic models, though quite related to the bureaucratic organization any long-running human organisation eventually becomes. Bureaucracy was a good term that somehow fell out of use, but it described such entities the best – eventually their existence becomes their only goal, so even the short-term profit strip-mining may become its secondary goal.Parallels notwithstanding, USSR communist party was such standalone organisation existing in its own spherical vacuum, with pretty much zero responsibility for its actions, direct or indirect. Why seemingly free market based monopoly capitalism has to reinvent the same concept is a bit of a mystery to me, but having worked in corporate world, I’ve noticed that humans in general, when in position of unchecked power, tend to invent just a thing, if not fiefdoms, then something quite close, USSR communist party kind of organisation, again, unrelated to the communism as taught in the textbooks. “Sect” may be too strong of a word, since it implies “the only way is in, nobody is allowed to leave”, but the premise is about the same – only selected “few” are given all the unlimited reins, merit or not, and the rest are mostly acolytes, plus useful idiots, paid or not, helping keeping it shrouded in mystery. Some kind of a shared/secret knowledge, real or made up, that’s supposed to be only fully known by the “selected few” is how sects form their core/circles, and any sufficiently large organisation invents these by a truckload, say, “internal policies”, ie, the secret dance one has to perform make to make anything work or happen : – ]Sorry about the run-on, but the essence of my rant was thus – any organisation with removed responsibility (and invented rituals) resembles a USSR communist party, hierarchy and all. Whether it is “upper management” in a large corporation, or hordes of “advisor committees” in the UN are details – they TEND to function in about the same way, so there, the reason why I call them all “communist parties”.",
"parent_id": "8188585",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189019",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T00:12:12",
"content": "You should kick your teacher square in the balls.",
"parent_id": "8189018",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189076",
"author": "LordNothing",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T02:40:15",
"content": "school would be more fun if we got to take a nerf bat to any professor we managed to prove wrong. college is a safe space so we need to use nerf. now most of the students would be wielding it like a cop wields a phone book on a perp in an interrogation room, but so long as no bones are broken, im cool with it. i figure it wouldn’t be long before every professor gets publicly flogged out of their positions of power. now if we could only do that for congress.",
"parent_id": "8189019",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190392",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T20:34:52",
"content": "So long as the prof can do the same to any student he proves wrong.Also who judges ‘proof’?Remember college is full of undergrads, most understand absolutely nothing and aren’t even trying.Profs in the soft subjects…Same as undergrads, but older and convinced they are authorities, no objective truth in anything.",
"parent_id": "8189076",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189747",
"author": "DAVID GARCIA",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T23:19:31",
"content": "Well you have good examples I’m pretty sure you download your bank applications from the Google Play or Apple pay you’re not side loading them this articles about people being stopped from sideloading applications basically Google is going to use something like well we’re protecting people from terrorists or potentially c**************** the guy get the idea and viruses and malware even though I find the application that don’t have it and sometimes the antivirus software thinks that they have viruses in it because it wasn’t from the Play store I even had antivirus software red flag other antivirus software",
"parent_id": "8188585",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188591",
"author": "Truth",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T09:21:37",
"content": "“a video discussion”, surely by definition that is a monologue.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188610",
"author": "Clara Hobbs",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T10:25:53",
"content": "I would ditch Android so fast it’d make Sundar Pichai’s head spin if PostmarketOS could figure out how to get battery charging and audio working on the Fairphone 4.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188779",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T16:02:27",
"content": "If you’re willing to buy fairphone, then you are already paying extra for a vendor that won’t lock down your phone. Relax, you’re fine. If fairphone decides to reverse their policy of letting you unlock the bootloader and install a custom rom, that would be a huge change for fairphone and has nothing to do with google.",
"parent_id": "8188610",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189033",
"author": "Clara Hobbs",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T00:36:46",
"content": "I’m relaxed, I just also dislike big tech. :)",
"parent_id": "8188779",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189245",
"author": "Sword",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T09:27:22",
"content": "The EU RED directive is strongly encouraging the locking of bootloaders. Give it a few months and don’t be shocked when fairphone does",
"parent_id": "8188779",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188613",
"author": "amidar",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T10:36:28",
"content": "Huawei likes this !HarmonyOS NEXT is obviously the future of mobile OS.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189028",
"author": "fhunter",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T00:30:01",
"content": "Except they aren’t any better in politics. Isn’t Huawei Apple wannabes with chinese quirks (which is even worse).",
"parent_id": "8188613",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188626",
"author": "Bruce",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T10:59:55",
"content": "Guys you are doing a great jobBut some of most trusted anti virus company had sold people information to gaming companies. But won’t say names. But the company was fined heavy by European union. But get to CPU companies had put back door program so USA government and back fired on themselves and. Let the wrong people got with the dark fibre. They 3party companies selling information without asking you first. But remember guys happen wit Mirc and bit torrent",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188640",
"author": "Marc",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T11:26:51",
"content": "Feedback form:https://goo.gle/Android-verification-feedbackThis is a shameful abuse of power.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188878",
"author": "Gustavo",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:09:32",
"content": "Thanks, just sent my opinion there:Requiring, for whatever reason, applications to be signed by a company so it can be installed on a private phone not related in any way to this company is unacceptable and breaks any concept of true ownership, no signing other than the one provided by the owner of the phone must be required to install or operate a piece of code in a private owned hardware.",
"parent_id": "8188640",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188660",
"author": "Fuzzyfuzzyfungus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T11:52:38",
"content": "This is obviously not the ‘solution’; but I’m curious how small you could make a USB-C peripheral that acts as a host running ADB and can be controlled from an app on the phone(presumably implemented as a composite device).It’s be deeply perverse; but for not-much SoC you could theoretically handle all app installs as ADB by laundering them through the little dongle.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188662",
"author": "Mike p",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T11:58:46",
"content": "You can already do this on phone with termux and ladb",
"parent_id": "8188660",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188687",
"author": "Clancydaenlightened",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T12:40:37",
"content": "Cant even access your own files system on your phoneNow you can only install what Google tells you?NopeGimme windows mobile or I’ma just flash a custom android 10 rom that lets me do what I want and I paid my money for",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188785",
"author": "rclark",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T16:14:56",
"content": "Lets get back to just a dedicated home phone and answering machine. It does what I want with a ‘phone’. My desktop and laptops let me do what I want to do with them as well. A camera works as well… Genie is out of the bottle, as people like the ‘convenience’ of a portable comm device and be ‘connected’ 24×7. Not me… So it goes.",
"parent_id": "8188687",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188734",
"author": "Friendly",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T14:18:23",
"content": "well, people might change to harmony os or other, in case they goea open source.this is another free highway for huawei to conquer the markethope google is not that foolish",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188786",
"author": "grapsus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T16:16:32",
"content": "Notice how they are calling it side-loading when in actuality it is installing and running software on a device that a user has bought. Highest level of manipulation and enshittification through the language itself.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189101",
"author": "LordNothing",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T03:34:51",
"content": "every operating system does this now. windows got me used to downloading installers from a website. frankly the least secure thing you can do, unless you trust the site, and that’s not always a good idea. some websites modified the installers to throw in adware or other crap. linux had this all figured out from the get go with its repos. the repos got front ended, and the modern app store is born.i started mostly on windows 9x-xp, so i still prefer to install things the old way. app stores are not a bad idea though, especially considering that the phone seems to be the essential security appliance now. if there is a device you dont want malware on, its that one. but google is terrible at vetting software. especially given that adware was one of the reasons we started vetting software in the first place, and the play store is mostly adware. google wants ads in your apps because that’s how they make money, so they want to lock out good software so it doesn’t compete with their bad software. its about control. nothing more.",
"parent_id": "8188786",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188832",
"author": "MJ",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T17:30:35",
"content": "They just lost their monopoly case so this is doubly stupid. If they have to open up to other app stores, then people will just use those instead of the official play store",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189252",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T09:43:02",
"content": "But if the OS won’t allow you to install apk from anywhere else if its not properly signed by a verified developer the other app stores can exist, even function as normal, but only if they all jump through Big G’s hoops. It seems the only way to load an app that will be allowed without verification for now is via the debug bridge, which requires a computer…",
"parent_id": "8188832",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188956",
"author": "kornbr3d",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T21:25:46",
"content": "Just remember if you don’t like it to make it know at the feedback link provided in the article. Google isn’t going to read your feedback in this comment thread.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189032",
"author": "Aknup",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T00:34:29",
"content": "And they are when it’s i n their trashbin?",
"parent_id": "8188956",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188993",
"author": "Jose",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T22:56:55",
"content": "Doesn’t this mean that we can just change the cert authority to be a third-party? One that allows anyone to upload their self-signed cert? Custom roms shouldn’t have too much effort to implement a third-party authenticator.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189035",
"author": "Aknup",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T00:40:50",
"content": "I think this plan must have been created by Apple.And it will boost their sales I imagine, because afterwards the only thing android has going for it are.. ads.And I think Google might be wrong about the popularity of and love people have for ads..And of course if they get away with this guess who else embraced the Google way and will feel inspired? Starts with an M and ends with a dollar sign. ‘New In Windroid 12’",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189054",
"author": "nobody",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T01:46:14",
"content": "2025 really sucks.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189077",
"author": "LordNothing",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T02:42:00",
"content": "look on the bright side, its all downhill from here.",
"parent_id": "8189054",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189381",
"author": "Aknup",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T14:57:02",
"content": "We should just flail our arms and shout WHEEEEE.Hmm, perhaps I should not have mentioned arms? But it’s a done thing now.",
"parent_id": "8189077",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189066",
"author": "xadeos",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T02:14:17",
"content": "Does this mean third party apps you already have downloaded on your device prior to this roll-out will need to go through this verification as well? I sure hope not because TubeMate has been a lifesaver for the last several years, and that’s probably the ONE third-party app I can’t live without.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189134",
"author": "Dan Fryling",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T05:29:36",
"content": "I let them know I don’t like their locking down. I have been with Android from the pre-order of the G1. Rooted every device until the phone companies in the US locked their boot loaders. Google can be an unstable mess sometimes. I hope they don’t ruin our experiences.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189203",
"author": "TW2X4",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T08:15:37",
"content": "Sooooo Google is going to enforce this how? Considering there any number of ways to obtain fake ID in the USA alone, let alone other countries, and that you can already find altered versions of stock android ROMs for way more than just avoiding exactly this kind of shitty policies from manufacturers and also from specific service providers for cell phones in particular, Google is going to for see an extreme uptick in people just refusing to use stock Android anymore. Again, Android as an OS is based on a Linux kernel, so anything that can run Android could run a touchscreen Linux distro so long as it has an unlocked bootloader. If Google really stops allowing APK installs directly on devices running Android, people will be far less inclined to use anything that runs stock Android, if it ends up requiring a whole separate device to install even your own apps as APK’s. ADB installs already can’t be done on the same device you install to using that at all anyway. They want us to buy two devices AND pay a fee to be able to use any app in a format tgat works on their OS? Alright, we will just make it a point to break that OS so hard that it doesn’t matter what Google wants. Thanks for a FAFO teachable monent in tech.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189218",
"author": "Andlo421",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T08:38:05",
"content": "Hahah. A couple of months ago I was bitching at One+ because the N30 (or whatever) i had would not at all let me load from unknown sources. There were 2 different options to tick and het it working but neither worked and so I call. I was asking why I can not tick these options so that I can get some apps that I want and they said that the options are not able to be checked because they are concerned for my safety. I was like wtf.. my safety? My Dollars bought this product so that I can do with it as i please.. if i download malicious software that sends money from my account into your personal bank account i am sure you wouldn’t be at all concerned about my safety, would you? This guy was like uhhhhhhhhhh.. Then i was like plus . I am pretty sure your reasoning is absolute bulll$+i# too because If you guys were so concerned about our safety. Why the hell would you leave those two options in the friggin settings for people to googling the how to’s and trying and trying and trying and Going nuts. In 2.places there are settings that mean the same thing. One is per app and one is globally. But you guys take it upon yourself to disable this ability and enable a lot of mental instability because of your concern. That is like dangling a carrot in front of a horse in order to get it to walk yet it will never get it. I think that is cruelty. You are forcing people to go the apple way by way of using your furors play store and i think that is complete bullshit. Now tell me how concerned are you right now for me because i am frustrated as fkkkk.. This guy’s reply is “uhhhhh”. So I ask him fascist regime he is fighting for, Google or Apple. And this guy tries to tell me that the reason why i cant turn on either of the options is.. I then just had to cut him off.. Anyways this conversation got funner and fun funner as it went forward. The supervisor was supposed to call me back but never did.. regardless. It makes sense now.. that was just the guy that puts up the perimeter fence for the “camp”. Here comes the Googlenughen express and if you dont play by their rules. You too will meet the secret police. And to camp you will go.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189419",
"author": "Aknup",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T15:39:54",
"content": "I wonder if it’s legal for a private company to demand a government-issued ID – and thus reject state-issued ones.Not that the Google sponsored politicians would do anything about it, and nor does any average Joe have the money to fight Google lawyers.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189447",
"author": "max",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T16:10:08",
"content": "I feel like I’m not understanding something correctly. is it legal for them to paywall our ability to install things this way on an open-source OS? Is that not a violation of Android being open-source?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190759",
"author": "Aknup",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T15:23:18",
"content": "Oh you have to pay too? Geez.",
"parent_id": "8189447",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189534",
"author": "shawn stoudt",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T17:44:51",
"content": "Seriously android Is public property open source it would be robbery if Google does shit like this android is not Google property this Is not legal the public can file a lawsuit against Googlehttps://source.android.com/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189633",
"author": "Jonathan Wilson",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T19:45:50",
"content": "What is the benefit to Google of implementing this? They are a publicly traded for-profit company and they aren’t going to do this for no reason. They claim that they are doing it to stop malware but how is malware distributed outside of the Google Play Store and installed by users on their own devices something that affects Google exactly?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189657",
"author": "Nathan Moehring",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T20:20:16",
"content": "Sideloading APK’s is sketchy as hell. The guy who said “I make an app for my family”, I don’t even think I would trust my family to make me an app to sideload. What if Microsoft banned Steam? It’s more like, what if Microsoft banned cracked games from the pirate bay, which was the reason I had to reinstall Windows every 3 months back in the day. And Valve is a similarly verified and registered developer for Windows, at least they had to have their exe signed. I sideload porn games, so I get the freedom argument, but I’m also glad they’re making this difficult for me, because I’m trying to stop.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189752",
"author": "Jules",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T23:29:10",
"content": "Deeply evil company.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190760",
"author": "Aknup",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T15:27:51",
"content": "Right now the EU and UK and AU and CA and NZ and US are all moving towards government backdoors in chat.The solution to such eventuality would be apps made by volunteers. And suddenly around the same time there is this new Google requirement.. coincidence? Is this even Google’s idea or are there external forces at play?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190971",
"author": "Johnologue",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T01:48:03",
"content": "Soliciting feedback? I believe all the necessary feedback was left on the GitHub issues page for “Web Integrity API”. I’m partial to “violates Yahweh’s Terms of Service” and the one that’s written in hex code.I think it would be paranoid to say the request for comment is just bait to allow authoritarian government officials (who may well be the reason for these extreme “verification” requirements) to retaliate against those expressing dissent.Paranoid. But not implausible.They know people aren’t okay with this. What is there for them to learn by requesting this feedback, other than the people who provide it?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,404.979521
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/06/finding-simpler-schlieren-imaging-systems/
|
Finding Simpler Schlieren Imaging Systems
|
Aaron Beckendorf
|
[
"Science"
] |
[
"optics",
"Schlieren",
"Schlieren photography",
"shadowgraph"
] |
Perhaps the most surprising thing about shadowgraphs is how simple they are: you simply take a point source of light, pass the light through a the volume of air to be imaged, and record the pattern projected on a screen; as light passes through the transition between areas with different refractive indices, it gets bent in a different direction, creating shadows on the viewing screen. [Degree of Freedom] started with these simple shadowgraphs, moved on to the more advanced schlieren photography, and eventually came up with a
technique sensitive enough
to register the body heat from his hand.
The most basic component in a shadowgraph is a point light source, such as the sun, which in experiments was enough to project the image of an escaping stream of butane onto a sheet of white paper. Better point sources make the imaging work over a wider range of distances from the source and projection screen, and a magnifying lens makes the image brighter and sharper, but smaller. To move from shadowgraphy to schlieren imaging, [Degree of Freedom] positioned a razor blade in the focal plane of the magnifying lens, so that it cut off light refracted by air disturbances, making their shadows darker. Interestingly, if the light source is small and point-like enough, adding the razor blade makes almost no difference in contrast.
With this basic setup under his belt, [Degree of Freedom] moved on to more unique schlieren setups. One of these replaced the magnifying lens with a standard camera lens in which the aperture diaphragm replaced the razor blade, and another replaced the light source and razor with a high-contrast black-and-white pattern on a screen. The most sensitive technique was what he called double-pinhole schlieren photography, which used a pinhole for the light source and another pinhole in place of the razor blade. This could image the heated air rising from his hand, even at room temperature.
The high-contrast background imaging system is reminiscent of
this technique
, which uses a camera and a known background to compute schlieren images. If you’re interested in a more detailed look, we’ve
covered schlieren photography
in depth before.
Thanks to [kooshi] for the tip!
| 3
| 3
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8188593",
"author": "Klaus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T09:25:57",
"content": "Thanks for the insight into this interesting technology. Your penultimate setup is closer to a telecentric backlight than to a schlieren optic, in my opinion. Or to koehler illumination as used in microscopes.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188984",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T22:41:39",
"content": "Okay the part with picking up hand heat at 70 degrees room temperature was very impressive, I audibly said wow to that one.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189781",
"author": "Aknup",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T00:41:15",
"content": "One thing though, the sun can not ‘be seen as a perfect pin source’, in fact the sun is seen as perfectly parallel rays. It’s very far away and very very big you see.(Or actually, you don’t ‘see’ it as it is and thus the confusion :))",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,405.069545
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/06/2g-gone-bring-it-back-yourself/
|
2G Gone? Bring It Back Yourself!
|
Tyler August
|
[
"Phone Hacks",
"Radio Hacks"
] |
[
"2g",
"2G network",
"GSM base station",
"sdr",
"vintage phone"
] |
Some parts of the world still have ample 2G coverage; for those of in North America, 2G is long gone and 3G has either faded into dusk or beginning its sunset. The legendary [dosdude1] shows us it need not be so, however:
Building a Custom 2G GSM Cellular Base Station
is not out of reach, if you are willing to pay for it. His latest videos show us how.
Before you start worrying about the FCC or its equivalents, the power here is low enough not to penetrate [dosdude]’s walls, but technically this does rely in flying under the radar. The key component is a Nuand BladeRF x40 full-duplex Software Defined Radio, which is a lovely bit of open-source hardware, but not exactly cheap. Aside from that, all you need is a half-decent PC (it at least needs USB-3.0 to communicate with the SDR, the “YateBTS” software (which [dosdude1] promises to provide a setup guide for in a subsequent video) and a sim card reader. Plus some old phones, of course, which is rather the whole point of this exercise.
The 2G sunset, especially when followed by 3G, wiped out whole generations of handhelds — devices with
unique industrial design
and forgotten
internet protocols
that are worth remembering and keeping alive. By the end of the video, he has his own little network, with the phones able to call and text one another on the numbers he set up, and even (slowly) access the internet through the miniPC’s network connection.
Unlike
most of the hacks
we’ve featured from [dosdude1], you won’t even
need a soldering iron
, never
mind a reflow oven for BGA.
| 25
| 7
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8188416",
"author": "That's on a need to know basis",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T21:15:37",
"content": "I wonder if low power transmissions fall under part 15…Either way this is a rather interesting look into cellular technologies. even if it is 2g. Nice work man!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188714",
"author": "Major Armstrong",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T13:25:05",
"content": "The short answer here is that in the USA, Part 15 applies by frequency range, not as a blanket. IDK if that applies to what is done here, but closer examination of Part 15 will reveal that.",
"parent_id": "8188416",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188835",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T17:37:32",
"content": "Uncle Charlie can’t be bothered to visit idiots with 1kw linears attached to their previously ‘hacked for range’ CB base stations.Ask me how I know.Wasn’t my house, but a friends, you could hear the idiot on anything w a speaker and the microwave oven when it was on.Vigilante justice served, somehow a pin shorted idiot’s antenna cable, smoke got out.Normal people sending letters to the FCC is like filing a theft report with the police.Complete waste of effort.In the police report case perhaps a misunderstanding of how insurance works, you don’t want to file that claim…If you interfere with emergency, military or aviation bands, big problems coming.Commercial bands (e.g. this) small chance of problems unless large area effected.Hobby bands/very Local issues?Maybe if the wrong person gets pissed and knows a lever we couldn’t find.",
"parent_id": "8188714",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188425",
"author": "transistor man",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T21:49:55",
"content": "Fantastic video, I’m impressed openBTS also handled internet as well",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190314",
"author": "diana1cionoiu",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T17:48:07",
"content": "OpenBTS was so sitty that when we sent an SMS crashed.Took about 2 years to fix most of the OpenBTS bugs.",
"parent_id": "8188425",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188453",
"author": "NQ",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T23:51:23",
"content": "Colin is really talented. Because of him my m93p Lenovo thin client has a sata-populated mobo with a 2tb m.2 sata drive and a 2tb ssd drive…true dual boot…one drive for Windows and the other drive for Linux in one cool little form factor.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188471",
"author": "Cody",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T02:03:33",
"content": "The base station may not be putting out much power, but I bet the phone is still putting out enough to create interference and get the cell companies to investigate. They have equipment that can track it down quickly.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188494",
"author": "Nick",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T03:51:27",
"content": "The base station may not be putting out much power, but I bet the phone is still putting out enough to create interference and get the cell companies to investigate. They have equipment that can track it down quickly.A 2G phone would be doing this regardless. In the absence of a base station, the phone would be broadcasting at FULL POWER forever, vainly trying to get in touch with a network. Having a low-power base station in one’s home would actually reduce the RF interference, because it would connect to the phone, then send a signal strength report back to the phone so the phone would reduce its transmit power.",
"parent_id": "8188471",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188505",
"author": "jpa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T05:20:03",
"content": "I think a 2G phone only receives until it finds a base station. (Sourcehttps://www.rfwireless-world.com/tutorials/understanding-2g-gsm-call-flow-and-network-entry)",
"parent_id": "8188494",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188694",
"author": "Johannes Burgel",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T12:46:41",
"content": "Jup, it doesn’t transmit anything until it has found something to transmit to. Simply because it wouldn’t even know when to transmit exactly.",
"parent_id": "8188505",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188498",
"author": "Sean",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T04:23:10",
"content": "Valid point I’d not considered initially.The base is 3mw which is in his house, but it should have (we hope) set the phone to it’s lowest absolute power, which is 250mw from memory.So yes, at 250mw he is transmitting outside his walls on the phone itself.250mw’s not much power, but still maybe detactable at 2km or more (clutter plus my terrible maths apply) It’s not a place I /personally/ would be going. (but I am not people’s keeper)I wonder if modern cell-towers have triangulation capability for in-band interference?",
"parent_id": "8188471",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188577",
"author": "Victor",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T08:55:19",
"content": "Since when is it a crime to turn on an old phone? What if there was an intruder in my house and I was hiding in the closet? You better believe I’ll be pulling out my tech horde and trying cell phones in reverse chronological order.",
"parent_id": "8188498",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188841",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T17:49:58",
"content": "Strange.Why not the shotgun?I don’t see what the cops in 30 minutes is going to do for you.Even if one of the phones works and you live in a ‘fast cops’ burb.",
"parent_id": "8188577",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189299",
"author": "Victor (@SunnyBlueSkies)",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T11:13:43",
"content": "Don’t stay on the line, police will respond quickly assuming one has been shot or killed.",
"parent_id": "8188841",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188848",
"author": "Bill",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T18:05:02",
"content": "Turning it on doesn’t transmit unless it finds a network.",
"parent_id": "8188577",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189044",
"author": "Sean",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T01:24:18",
"content": "Turning on a old phone doesn’t transmit anything so that’s not a crime.Using the phone actively, and that 250mw (hoping he set that from his base) is where the laws are broken. And that transmission on frequencies now in use for other important things, means you are potentially disrupting other people. And that is something /I/ won’t do.I am sorry you took such clear offense at my post. I would have thought “(but I am not people’s keeper)” should have been a disclaimer enough.",
"parent_id": "8188577",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188838",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T17:46:05",
"content": "It can detect a purr at 200 meters…I doubt the cell companies care.There are bad reception spots many places.How many indoor cell repeaters being ‘misused’ in backyards?How many cat detector vans?In the old old days, the phone company had my dad convinced they could count phones by measuring resistance to ring signals.But the truth is he was German and just rules crazy.",
"parent_id": "8188471",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188496",
"author": "Nick",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T03:56:51",
"content": "I don’t know if these guys ever got to a full-blown emulation of a 2G GSM network, but it’s a much cheaper way to get started:https://hackaday.com/2018/04/23/spoofing-cell-networks-with-a-usb-to-vga-adapter/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190318",
"author": "diana1cionoiu",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T17:51:21",
"content": "It will not work since is half duplex.And unless the basestation is LTE TDD, you do need a full duplex SDR. I suppose you can also do 5G TDD.",
"parent_id": "8188496",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188703",
"author": "Daniel E Gross",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T12:57:12",
"content": "For those with older classic cars that had early versions of things like OnStar. Many late 90s and early 2000s luxury and performance cars are in this position. A very short range to Bluetooth solution could give these systems new life.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189358",
"author": "Tyler August",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T13:50:30",
"content": "That’s a great application for this technique.",
"parent_id": "8188703",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189511",
"author": "Cogidubnus Rex",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T17:22:10",
"content": "The wonderful EU dictated all new cars have an eCall service since 2018 for emergency services. What they didn’t dictate is that it should be future proof so manufacturers cheaped out installing 2G/3G only modules.Cue a few years later 2G/3G gets turned off and your eCall is now eBrick. So laughable that in Sweden at least it’s been a requirement that eCall is functional during the annual inspection, but from next year that will no longer be a test item due to…",
"parent_id": "8188703",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190321",
"author": "diana1cionoiu",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T17:52:15",
"content": "I think that modules in the cars can be updated just fine in the same way other stuff like radio and CDROMs got updated.",
"parent_id": "8189511",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188713",
"author": "CRJEEA",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T13:25:00",
"content": "Dialing *#06# would seem to negate the need for a sim card reader on most phones.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190316",
"author": "diana1cionoiu",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T17:49:01",
"content": "IMSI != IMEI",
"parent_id": "8188713",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
}
] | 1,760,371,405.134165
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/06/logitech-pop-buttons-are-about-to-go-pop/
|
Logitech POP Buttons Are About To Go Pop
|
Maya Posch
|
[
"home hacks"
] |
[
"logitech",
"smart home"
] |
For those who missed out on the past few years of ‘smart home’ gadgets, the Logitech POP buttons were introduced in 2018 as a way to control smart home devices using these buttons and a central hub. After a few years of Logitech gradually turning off features on this $100+ system, it seems that Logitech will turn off the lights in two weeks from now. Remaining POP Button users
are getting emails
from Logitech in which they
are informed
of the shutdown on October 15 of 2025, along with a 15% off coupon code for the Logitech store.
Along with this coupon code only being usable for US-based customers, this move appears to disable the hub and with it any interactions with smart home systems like Apple HomeKit, Sonos,
IFTTT
and Philips Hue. If Logitech’s claim in the email that the buttons and connected hub will ‘lose all functionality’, then it’d shatter the hopes for those who had hoped to keep using these buttons in a local fashion.
Suffice it to say that this is a sudden and rather customer-hostile move by Logitech. Whether the hub can be made to work in a local fashion remains to be seen. At first glance there don’t seem to be any options for this, and it’s rather frustrating that Logitech doesn’t seem to be interested in the goodwill that it would generate to enable this option.
| 71
| 35
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8188336",
"author": "Steven Clark",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T18:10:16",
"content": "The second S in IoT stands for Support.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188347",
"author": "El Gru",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T18:26:33",
"content": "Well, to their defense, logitech truly came through with the first S in IoT here.",
"parent_id": "8188336",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188461",
"author": "Victor",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T00:40:26",
"content": "Internet of shitty Things?",
"parent_id": "8188347",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188515",
"author": "El Gru",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T06:25:32",
"content": "The S in IoT stands for security.",
"parent_id": "8188461",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188475",
"author": "LookAtDaShinyShiny",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T02:23:17",
"content": "‘how do you spell support?’‘S U F P P O R T’‘Wait, what? There is no F in support’‘Now you’re getting it… :-D’",
"parent_id": "8188336",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190017",
"author": "stehlajz",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T09:42:10",
"content": "More like S F U P P O R T, because F U when you want to use products you purchased.",
"parent_id": "8188475",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188344",
"author": "paulvdh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T18:24:54",
"content": "Some 10+ years ago I bought a squeezebox. A day later I returned it to the shop because I was not able to play my own music without creating an account with that company. The thing would not even boot. And that was my last experience with that company.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188396",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T20:46:45",
"content": "..You had a SaaS accordion? What?",
"parent_id": "8188344",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188473",
"author": "Meek Mark",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T02:12:14",
"content": "Remind me of an old song by “The Who.”",
"parent_id": "8188396",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188506",
"author": "Robert",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T05:30:14",
"content": "Logitech shutdown the Squeezebox service early last year. But, thanks to open source alternatives, a used Squeezebox Touch still sells for $100+.",
"parent_id": "8188344",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188513",
"author": "Loyal fan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T06:02:35",
"content": "Open source alternatives indeed! Logitech open-sourced the squeezebox server code out the gate.https://lyrion.org/is based on that release. I’ve never had a mysqueezebox account and I’ve been using Squeezebox Radios for over a decade. Toss LMS on a NAS and rock on!",
"parent_id": "8188506",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189050",
"author": "Jake",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T01:40:50",
"content": "That’s tight! Thanks for the comment. There are versions selling from $20 -> $350, depending on condition, model, etc!",
"parent_id": "8188506",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188552",
"author": "Stephen Casey",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T07:46:19",
"content": "Squeezebox was always much better with a local server. No need for a Logitech account. Logitech canned the entire ecosystem over 10 years ago. A terrible decision. I was very irked. Fortunately they open sourced everything and it has since been continually maintained by a superb, active and large, community. It’s now called Lyrion Music Server. There are many plugins. The BBC Sounds one puts Sonos to shame. And Spotify works a dream.I have many Squeezeboxes, from the SB3, Radio, Boom and Touch. They are fantastic.I don’t like anything dependent on third party services. I remember looking at Den, and rapidly decided it was a bad idea. Shelly, however, is different – sure, it’s cloud based. But like Squeezebox, doesn’t need to be. It can all work 100% LAN based. I’ve installed hundreds of Shelly devices for clients. They’ve never let me down.",
"parent_id": "8188344",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188555",
"author": "elmesito",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T07:55:04",
"content": "I picked up a second hand Squeezebox, and it is brilliant. Off course I have my self hosted music server (LMS) that integrates with Home Assistant very well. I play free internet radios completely ad-free. I have added several other speakers to the system, through the airplay plugin plus a few ESP32s that bring the older speakers up to date.",
"parent_id": "8188344",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189039",
"author": "Jaxon Lee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T01:05:51",
"content": "That’s funny because they later opensourced the platform and now you don’t need anything. They should have done the same thing here",
"parent_id": "8188344",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188345",
"author": "ChipMaster",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T18:25:42",
"content": "The cloud giveth and the cloud taketh away. Cursed be the cloud. ;-)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188355",
"author": "Cad the Mad",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T18:40:48",
"content": "That’s while I built my own. 40TB of storage, Jellyfin, NextCloud, and HomeAssistant, an unlocked Android TV, and purely local IoT outlets, switches, sensors, bulbs, and cameras.IoT and cloud services are awesome, as long as you own them instead of renting them.",
"parent_id": "8188345",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188526",
"author": "MR",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T06:59:17",
"content": "Sounds more like the cloud selleth, then the cloud stealeth",
"parent_id": "8188345",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188352",
"author": "shinsukke",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T18:38:45",
"content": "Just 7 years and they’re pulling the plug. Next time it may be 7 months. Just can’t trust these companies.And its Logitech of all brands. Its not some little 5 person company who can’t keep the lights on so they’re closing shop, its a massive company with many device lines.I’m not very knowledgeable about the hosting costs for these “cloud” services so I gotta ask. I pay a shady website 15$/year to host my single core, 1GB RAM, 30GB/month VPS. Is the software running on Logitech servers really something that takes more resources than this? I mean they’re just forwarding the data to other services (Homeassistant whatever) anyway? Is there any need for a lot of RAM and CPU power?Sorry not very knowledgeable about these",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188367",
"author": "ella",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T19:03:14",
"content": "ahemspotifyahemcar thingahemahem",
"parent_id": "8188352",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188380",
"author": "a_do_z",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T19:41:42",
"content": "I’m ignorant enough of the business model to have to ask: how do these corporate entities pay for long term support of a cloud based product without a recurring revenue stream?I mean, clearly they don’t, but how do theythinkthey would? Or, how do consumers think they would? Is it just a sort of Ponzi scheme?",
"parent_id": "8188352",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188451",
"author": "pascal martin",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T23:48:37",
"content": "It is close to a Ponzi scheme: everybody was promised that the cloud was a cheaper alternative to server ownership, only to find that it is a lot more expensive in most cases.Cloud-based products only make sense if the sales keep growing. When the sales go down, the (continually increasing) cloud costs rapidly make the business unprofitable.Every vendor has been trying to capture customers with proprietary “standards”, and that did slow down growth overall.Home equipment is expected to last 10-20 years, while the high-tech industry is expecting a 5 years cycle.A sad disconnect between the tech billionaires world and the real one.The vendors who keep replacing their product lines will be losing customers on every transition without understanding why.",
"parent_id": "8188380",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188397",
"author": "jason",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T20:50:13",
"content": "After being burnt by logitech’s sudden drop of support on more than one occasion I will not buy anything from them. I might consider their matter products since loosing their servers would not be a problem.",
"parent_id": "8188352",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188353",
"author": "Chr el",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T18:39:39",
"content": "Learned my lesson when Wink Home went belly up a while ago after I spent hundreds of dollars and many hours getting a house full of z-wave sensors and switches set up.I binned all the Wink hardware and now have a rule: no more non open-source smart home devices, ever.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188370",
"author": "Make-Log",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T19:07:42",
"content": "Did you have a look at Hubitat? This is what I am using for Z-Wave",
"parent_id": "8188353",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188386",
"author": "paulvdh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T20:06:58",
"content": "Have you attempted to use something like github/OpenZWave?",
"parent_id": "8188353",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188393",
"author": "Iman",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T20:35:18",
"content": "I made a rule too: Whenever I want a nice IoT device that is pricey, I wait that the mothership goes belly up and that an open-source firmware or mod exist before buying it for dirt cheap.",
"parent_id": "8188353",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188582",
"author": "elmesito",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T09:05:06",
"content": "Z-Wave is well supported by numerous vendors, including open source ones. My home is mostly Z-wave and I use Home assistant to run the show in a simple and hassle-free fashion.",
"parent_id": "8188353",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188399",
"author": "Ben",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T20:51:20",
"content": "Logitech offers everyone (even outside the US) who visits its store 15% off so this isn’t much of a gesture of goodwill.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188614",
"author": "Clara Hobbs",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T10:41:07",
"content": "Not much of a gesture of goodwill either way. “Hey, that thing you bought from us? We’re remotely killing it. As our way of saying we’re sorry, why not buy something else from us at a small discount, huh?”",
"parent_id": "8188399",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188409",
"author": "Zygo",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T21:10:17",
"content": "Are there any good lidar mapping vacuum robots that don’t require cloud support? That’s the last device in my home that phones home.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188458",
"author": "Max",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T00:32:30",
"content": "Have a look at Valetudo for that. It’s basically rooting your vacuum and putting a light weight web server on it that can communicate over MQTT. Installing that also adds a host file entry to blackhole any request outside your network.I set that up on my Dreame to connect to HA, and I’ve been really happy with it!",
"parent_id": "8188409",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188436",
"author": "Andrew",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T22:36:30",
"content": "No open source saviour ready to step in and replace the firmware, or set up an alternative server?I’m happy that all my home automation stuff is local. I have one Shelly relay which is completely self-contained, so it’s a commercial component that doesn’t need internet connectivity. I also have IKEA Tradfri, which is local, but gets updates from the internet periodically. Everything else is diy, such as Tasmota, ESPeasy, or ESPhome.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188456",
"author": "johnedwa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T00:22:32",
"content": "The best part about IKEA stuff is that basically none of itrequiresthe internet, or even a hub in the first place (with a few exceptions, like the water leak sensor as it needs to send you an alert), and all of it uses common standards like zigbee and matter so they would work with other hubs in the future too. I could yeet my hub right now and the only thing I would lose are the temperature/humidity readings, as those sensors don’t have displays ( they are also the only ones not from Ikea :P )",
"parent_id": "8188436",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188447",
"author": "rclark",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T23:34:21",
"content": "I think most here at Hackaday would just shrug when things like going POP happens. Anything I do for home automation is built/programmed by me. A Pico here, a relay there, a switch over there, another Pico 2, etc… And all local, no internet access. Where is the fun of having devices controlled/built/monitored by a outside company?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188450",
"author": "David4262",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T23:47:52",
"content": "Sounds like Logitech discovered serious and unfixable security vulnerabilities in these devices. Would you rather they shut down the line of products or would your prefer to expose your home to hackers? This is the problem with being an early adopter of any product these days …",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190423",
"author": "dvdkon",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T21:52:36",
"content": "In that case, I’d rather they told me about the security issue, so I could fix it. Debugging proprietary firmware isn’t easy, but it’s doable, and preferable to presumably at least tens of thousands of devices becoming e-waste because a lack of support.",
"parent_id": "8188450",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188462",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T00:41:09",
"content": "When i bought my ipcam 15 years ago, i made sure before i bought it that it offered a basic jpeg-over-http interface. Now i don’t bother with that kind of research, i just buy on temu where everything is eager to be usable. haha i can’t believe i typed that ridiculous sentence in full sincerity.I just haven’t found it that hard to avoid cloud iot garbage so far. Android’s as close to that as i come",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188488",
"author": "David Hoskins",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T03:24:21",
"content": "It is really ironic that to avoid cloud/vendor lock-in buying the absolute cheapest device money can buy is a workable answer.",
"parent_id": "8188462",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188503",
"author": "GB",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T04:45:56",
"content": "Except that these devices have known security vulnerabilities and tend to call home to china at unexpected times. Never give them internet access…",
"parent_id": "8188488",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188790",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T16:24:56",
"content": "Yeah i personally simply don’t care. Like, security is a mild concern but i am comfortable with my approach to nested barriers…like, if you have wifi then you just have to assume there are packets on your LAN that you didn’t approve…adding an ipcam that might let reverse connections through your NAT is just another hole in the cage after the bird already left. As for phoning home, that seems to be nearly universal. Regardless of intent, they’re all leaking my personal info.One of the rewards of knowing that privacy is obsolete is that i can just enjoy devices that work :) I mean, my unbranded android tablet came with SuperSU installed by the factory. It’s awesome!",
"parent_id": "8188503",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188480",
"author": "SRMPDX",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T02:33:52",
"content": "Ah remember back when Amazon was giving buttons away for free and you could just hack them to work locally for automation?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188483",
"author": "Ooawny",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T02:56:21",
"content": "This seems to follow on from Logitech dropping support for their (once) industry leading range of programmable Harmony remote controls.They also sold off another great tech in their 3d Connexions division.Logitech seems to come up with great tech, but little follow through or ability to monetize it properly. Sad, really",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188619",
"author": "Banzai52",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T10:51:08",
"content": "Harmony hasn’t been killed yet. They stopped making new ones, but they haven’t shut down their servers and remotely killed them…yet.",
"parent_id": "8188483",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188507",
"author": "Laurence Renshaw",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T05:32:42",
"content": "There should be a law saying that companies that sell connected devices have to open-source the interface/code of they terminate the service, and allow customers to either switch to a third-party/community hub or host their own service at home.Also give a procedure (and keys if needed) to allow flashing with new firmware.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189038",
"author": "Christopher Williams",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T01:02:16",
"content": "Why do we need a law for this? If someone wants a device to continue working after the company stops supporting it, they need to research the product before purchasing it.The fact that many people don’t care enough to do this sort of research doesn’t justify a new law to protect them from themselves. It also means the unsupported devices become cheaper for those who want to figure out how to make them work again because the original buyers will practically give them away. :)",
"parent_id": "8188507",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190413",
"author": "Will A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T21:28:34",
"content": "That’s all fine & good when there’s options on the market. But when an entire industry chooses to black box their products there’s no choice, and consumers end up having products they purchased for all intents and purposes stolen from them. Completely at the whim of the company and/or industry.The automobile industry has been moving towards doing this. In 5 years you will be forced into replacing your car with a brand new every 3 years, or when ever they choose to stop supporting it. As it is, shops are having to purchase very expensive yearly subscriptions for each manufacturer to do basic maintenance items. Like replacing break pads. Just to reset the service interval. Sometimes they have to have subscriptions for sub models as well. They are restricting access to these subscriptions to certified shops as well. So depending on how new your car is, you can no longer replace your own pads & rotors. Nothing has changed other than the need to inform the ECU that you replaced them. They did this so they could restrict how long their cars are usable.They are moving towards making basic options subscription based as well. Ware you will loose access to the option you purchased when they decided to no longer support the vehicle.Other industries are moving towards this as well. It’s just a matter of time. This is what was meant by, “You will own nothing, and be happy.” A law is needed to protect property ownership.",
"parent_id": "8189038",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188521",
"author": "JensE",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T06:52:54",
"content": "Logitech is the ID in IoT … get it?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188528",
"author": "Andrew",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T06:59:40",
"content": "Any consumers of this product in Australia, I would recommend taking Logitech to court over this in a class action, such egregious omissions of service limitations make for very successful cases here in Australia.Under Australian Consumer Law (ACL) Section 18, conduct can be unlawful if it is misleading or deceptive or likely to mislead, even if there was no intention to deceive.Courts here tend to examine whether a consumer relied on the misleading information and suffered loss as a result.Given that logitech has failed to provide any alternative such as open source code or localised service options, along with failing to provide sufficient reimbursement to cover the costs of the items that are now e-waste, I would speculate that this could make for a very good consumer rights case here.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189084",
"author": "dankickcan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T02:57:27",
"content": "But in every TOS I read they say that they can cut off access at any time, so if you have ever agreed, which most of the time just using the product constitutes you agreeing to the terms.",
"parent_id": "8188528",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188542",
"author": "Cory Johnson",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T07:28:59",
"content": "Just like the gaming community is pushing “Stop Killing Games”, the IoT community should be pushing for legislation that forces any manufacturer of cloud-connected devices to provide substantial offline functionality, release full source under an open license, and/or provide full-value refunds/credits when ending centralized cloud support. Having these buttons stop working in exchange of a 15% coupon is bitter right now, but we’re going to see this happen more often and with increasingly expensive devices. A pretty bad shitstorm is brewing with all the EVs on the road that require cloud connectivity. How many of those will be bricked because the manufacturer can no longer be bothered to provide software support in the next decades?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188695",
"author": "Jdams",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T12:49:41",
"content": "Way overblown worry in one sense while also being unaware of the real issue. No you can’t brick a car because of software updates. If there’s a critical safety flaw the companies are required to take and fix the cars for the customer. It’s called a recall. So nothing could brick a car since they would have to fix anything that might be used as an excuse to brick it.On the other hand, none of the cars being sold today spend very much time being out of contact with someone in the supply chain. Whether it’s tesla and their location data/full camera coverage both inside and outside the car for every trip, down to the older version of dealers installing GPS trackers in any car that wasn’t bought outright with cash, and some that were.We all ooze this apparently supremely valuable substance called “data” for them to “mine”, so if there’s no airtight privacy laws protecting you, then they would be doing a disservice to their shareholders if they didn’t collect that data to sell off. From where you go to when you go there to what you eat on your way there. They must know it all! Pays for the 3g modem in no time. (I bet they miss 2g too)",
"parent_id": "8188542",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188571",
"author": "Michel Meyers",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T08:45:01",
"content": "Not the first time Logitech does this shit either. Remember the Harmony remotes they “discontinued”? Stop buying Logitech! Start lobbying for laws against these practices.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188620",
"author": "John Frazer",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T10:51:14",
"content": "It’s sort of funny, sort of sad and also MIGHTY SCARY how many apparently tech-savvy people here do not have or at one point did not have any qualms to (1) automate their homes, (2) do so over the internet, and (3) do so while relying on the continued services of a commercial provider, with no backup plan other than to declare the machinery e-waste. IMHO in society at large, that pretty much directly translates into too many facilities, factories and services being vulnerable to all kinds of cyber-attacks and spying. To me it’s a failure of society that for example in my city the people that were stationed on each subway platform to dispatch trains were replaced by cameras, and now they have done the same with surface trains, too. This is so eerie.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188646",
"author": "Winston",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T11:30:50",
"content": "https://cdn.caeducatorstogether.org/files/uploaded/imported/1/resource/98e2b112-a4ce-5437-9774-23cf10370c70/ZtacKhz.jpg",
"parent_id": "8188620",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188639",
"author": "Winston",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T11:25:32",
"content": "I won’t connect my dishwasher to your stupid cloudLevel 2 Jeff2,043,727 views – Mar 24, 2025Sadly, it seems all appliance manufacturers are going this route. Where will we be in 5-10 years next time I need to buy a new dishwasher? Probably even worse off.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M_hmwBBPnc",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188642",
"author": "Winston",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T11:28:18",
"content": "HOUSE OF HORRORS“Mr. Robot” played to our worst technology fears with a mini horror movie about a hacked smart homeJuly 15, 2016https://qz.com/733269/mr-robot-played-to-our-worst-technology-fears-with-a-mini-horror-movie-about-a-hacked-smart-home/https://vimeo.com/178324074",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188670",
"author": "D.A.Hobbs",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T12:09:12",
"content": "I stopped buying this type of tech after Logitech abandoned the Harmony Remote Control’s. They could have at least open sourced it and let the hacking community go at it. Heck a whole lotta bugs would have sure gotten fixed! I ended up with like 7 harmony remotes and two hub the in no time at all became useless due to changing equipment (tv, DVR ect) and unable to update the remote anymore.Logitech has a really bad habit of abruptly pulling the plug leaving customers whom have spent then money with useless devices and nothing really to show for it.Logitech abruptly pulled the plug on their first Google TV devicesALL of the companies do it, some are just more thoughtful of their customers than others. All you can do is BEWARE of the next big thing and decide IF it’s worth the risk to ya! 👍",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188674",
"author": "Zamp",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T12:13:25",
"content": "“You will own nothing and be happy”The people having their Logitech buttons turn into doorstops don’t seem so happy.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188692",
"author": "Tim Eckel",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T12:45:44",
"content": "The cloud server to keep this going probably costs $10/month. Sure, there was probably the occasional patch or update, but it’s not like they were developing and adding new features.It costs Logitech next to nothing to keep this going. I’m sure it costs more in future lost revenue from those not willing to buy new Logitech products after they were abandoned.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188719",
"author": "Chris Jefferies",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T13:34:03",
"content": "Hook up an esp thingy and a nice looking button and put it in a cute candy box. Then route it in to your nodered or home assistant and never look back. ;)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188744",
"author": "Rochelle Sears",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T14:37:26",
"content": "This is exactly why I won’t buy any products like this that require a subscription to an online service to work.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188777",
"author": "McFortner",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T16:00:13",
"content": "“You will own nothing. And you WILL LIKE IT! The beatings will continue until the liking begins.”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188787",
"author": "grapsus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T16:18:41",
"content": "7 years ? are you kidding ? devices should have been in the landfill for 4 years already /s",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188844",
"author": "DaveC",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T17:55:03",
"content": "Think Logitech should follow Google’s example with Stadia, a full refund and a special update to change the controller into a standard Bluetooth controller, avoiding tons of e waste.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189020",
"author": "Jim",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T00:14:10",
"content": "7 years of support is actually incredible in a world where people go out and get a new cell phone every year. It’s always been like that though with technology.Try to find someone still using an Android phone from 2018.Who was surfing the net on Windows 3.1 in 2000?Techno nerds will chime in and say “I still browse the net with windows 3.1!!!!! And “I’m still using my iPhone 7!!!” But this is a small amount of users, not the majority.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189036",
"author": "Arjay67",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T00:41:28",
"content": "After having them shut down the harmony remotes, I wasn’t very keen on Logitech. I also had one of their solar charged keyboards. The battery failed after 6 months and they didn’t want to replace it. Then I finally did get them to replace it and the replacement only lasted 6 months. Shitty products shitty support and shitty company.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189160",
"author": "Michael O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T06:58:14",
"content": "Among the many reasons I dont want any of my HA sensors being internet aware. Connect to my hub and nothing more.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189237",
"author": "Steven Paul Spence",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T09:06:22",
"content": "Make your own with a esp32 and a 3d printer for home assistant, etc.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189365",
"author": "hwertz",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T14:06:39",
"content": "I’ve quite simply made sure ANY product i get has offline functionality — local bluetooth or wifi without HAVING to phone home. I mean, honestly a (for example) thermostat that stores the temperatures ‘in the cloud’ instead of just letting you switch temps locally? (I do recall one of these not even running it’s temperature schedule of it was offline.). In his case, a button that can’t just contact whatever over LAN? I mean really.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190862",
"author": "Jeff Wright",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T21:27:49",
"content": "On the horizonhttps://techxplore.com/news/2025-10-haptic-soft.html",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,405.280296
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/10/inside-a-germanium-transistor/
|
Inside A Germanium Transistor
|
Jenny List
|
[
"Parts"
] |
[
"germanium",
"OC71",
"transistor"
] |
The first transistors were point contact devices, not far from the cats-whiskers of early radio receivers. They were fragile and expensive, and their performance was not very high. The transistor which brought the devices to a mass audience through the 1950s and 1960s was the one which followed, the alloy diffusion type. [Play With Junk] has a failed OC71 PNP alloy diffusion transistor, first introduced in 1957,
and has cracked it open for a closer look
.
Inside the glass tube is a small wafer of germanium crystal, surrounded by silicone grease. It forms the N-type base of the device, with the collector and emitter being small indium beads fused into the germanium. The junctions were formed by the resulting region of germanium/indium alloy. The outside of the tube is pained black because the device is light-sensitive, indeed a version of this transistor without the paint was sold as the OCP71 phototransistor.
These devices were leaky and noisy, with a low maximum frequency and low gain. But they were reliable and eventually affordable, so
some of us even cut our electronic teeth on them
.
| 9
| 8
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8190659",
"author": "Hugo Oran",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T09:09:09",
"content": "Oh my electronic teeth really cut on OC71:)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190660",
"author": "shinsukke",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T09:12:19",
"content": "“I can’t believe I was sold a random piece of metal with wires soldered on it! I’ve been scammed!”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190673",
"author": "cvghj",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T10:07:28",
"content": "you snikkers",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190724",
"author": "Austin Lesea",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T13:36:29",
"content": "Never had an OC71. My first transistor was a CK722 that my older brother gave me. Building my circuit (a simple single stage amplifier) I broke off the emitter lead. Tears.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190731",
"author": "OH3MVV",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T13:54:45",
"content": "OC71 and OC72 were the ones I learned electronics with. With “high power” applications such as lamp flashers, small DC motor control and speaker amplifier, OC74 was unbeatable. Then came AC187/188 and AD161/162 and then “undestructible” silicon transistors. Well, compared to germaniums, they did survive much more abuse.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190737",
"author": "OH3MVV",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T14:05:51",
"content": "The OC prefix followed the established prefixing of tubes, first letter indicating filament voltage and second letter the function. So EA meant a diode tube with 6.3V filament and ECC a double triode with 6.3V filament.Since the transistor did not need any filament voltage, it got a letter O for zero, and C for triode – which was the closest tube designation. There were many germanium diodes with OA prefix.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190768",
"author": "Eric",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T16:01:53",
"content": "OA would be PNP then :)",
"parent_id": "8190737",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190805",
"author": "Owlman",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T18:04:51",
"content": "” indeed a version of this transistor without the paint was sold as the OCP71 phototransistor.”More specifically, it had a window in the paint and cost many times more than an OC71 and, when everyone just scraped the paint and used the cheaper option, they started using blue grease in the OC71, reserving the clear grease for the more expensive OCP71.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191081",
"author": "Vijay kumar KUMAr Sharma",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T07:51:00",
"content": "Dot shows collector…….",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,405.175879
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/09/one-rom-gets-a-usb-stack/
|
One ROM Gets A USB Stack
|
John Elliot V
|
[
"hardware",
"Retrocomputing"
] |
[
"One ROM",
"usb"
] |
Our hacker [Piers Finlayson] is at it again, and this time he has
added USB support to One ROM
.
With this new connectivity you can attach your One ROM to your computer with a USB cable and then in a matter of seconds upload new firmware from your Chrome (or Chromium) web browser. This new connectivity will supplement but not replace the existing serial wire connectivity because the serial wire connectivity enables certain advanced use cases not supported by the USB stack, such as reprogramming a ROM in-place as it’s being served. The new USB interface will probably suit most users who just want to use One ROM to manage the ROMs for their old kit and who don’t need the extra functionality.
Addressing the question as to why he didn’t have USB connectivity from the start [Piers] claimed it was because he didn’t like soldering the USB sockets! But given this is a service he can get from his board house that is no longer his problem! [Piers] said he picked Micro USB over USB-C because the former demands less circuit board real estate than the latter. Squeezing everything on to the board remains a challenge!
[Piers] isolates the two power subsystems with
Schottky diodes
. This keeps the One ROM and USB power sources separate, meaning they can safely be used at the same time. The USB support also demanded the inclusion of an external 12 MHz oscillator but only needed three extra pins on the micro: VBUS, D+, and D-.
The fun thing about this video is the number of false starts and red herrings [Piers] chases down as he does his diagnoses. This is how the sausage is made! And speaking of making sausage, [Piers] has recorded an additional two hour video showing how he laid out the new USB version in KiCad:
One ROM Fire USB – Laying out RP2350 + USB in 1/2 x 1 inch
.
If you haven’t been keeping track with where we’re at with One ROM we first heard of it
back in July
with an
update in September
, and since then
[Piers] appeared on FLOSS Weekly
, so be sure to check that out! It has been fun to watch this project develop and we look forward to seeing where [Piers] takes it in future, wishing him every success.
| 3
| 2
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8190624",
"author": "Nath",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T07:37:55",
"content": "Damn, this one ROM is an awesome project! Too bad they didn’t consider a 28 and a 32-pin option, it would have been a killer for systems like the Philips VideoWriter :https://hackaday.io/project/25664-anatomy-of-a-philips-videowriter",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190786",
"author": "zardam",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T16:55:13",
"content": "You can checkhttps://github.com/wickerwaka/PicoROM(successfully used slightly modified in my port of Bad Apple on a Minitel:https://zardam.github.io/post/minitel/)",
"parent_id": "8190624",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190792",
"author": "Miles",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T17:20:36",
"content": "I’m not sure USB-C takes more board space, there is probably a USB 2.0 compatible footprint port.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,405.505131
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/09/the-fascinating-waveguide-technology-inside-metas-ray-ban-display-glasses/
|
The Fascinating Waveguide Technology Inside Meta’s Ray-Ban Display Glasses
|
Maya Posch
|
[
"Teardown",
"Wearable Hacks"
] |
[
"smart glasses",
"teardown"
] |
The geometric waveguide glass of the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses. (Credit iFixit)
Recently the avid teardown folk over at iFixit got their paws on Meta’s Ray-Ban Display glasses, for a
literal in-depth look at these smart glasses
. Along the way they came across the fascinating geometric waveguide technology that makes the floating display feature work so well. There’s also an
accompanying video
of the entire teardown, for those who enjoy watching a metal box cutter get jammed into plastic.
Overall, these smart glasses can be considered to be somewhat repairable, as you can pry the arms open with a bit of heat. Inside you’ll find the 960 mWh battery and a handful of PCBs, but finding spare parts for anything beyond perhaps the battery will be a challenge. The front part of the glasses contain the antennae and the special lens on the right side that works with the liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) projector to reflect the image back to your eye.
While LCoS has been used for many years already, including Google Glass, it’s the glass that provides the biggest technological advancement. Instead of the typical diffractive waveguide it uses a geometric reflective waveguide made by
Schott
, with the technology developed by
Lumus
for use in augmented reality (AR) applications. This is supposed to offer better optical efficiency, as well as less light leakage into or out of the waveguide.
Although definitely impressive technology, the overall repairability score of these smart glasses is pretty low, and you have to contest with both looking incredibly dorky and some people considering you to be
a bit of a glasshole
.
| 25
| 11
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8190488",
"author": "Alex Topic",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T02:18:07",
"content": "I hope for LInux support with Gnome and KDE Plasma Desktops incorporate AR support in the near future and treat it like another monitor. I am glad AR is maturing.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190657",
"author": "Aknup",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T09:00:38",
"content": "600×600 pixels does not lend itself for a desktop type interface.And at $800 it’s ‘neat but too dear’ IMHONot that I’m into the Meta world anyway to be fair, and they have the ‘glasshole’ camera aspect as Maya says, and they are glasses you are suppose to wear in regular life instead as only for a sit-down.",
"parent_id": "8190488",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190714",
"author": "Bill",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T13:05:27",
"content": "Back in the day, we worked with less and loved it!",
"parent_id": "8190657",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190726",
"author": "Ali",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T13:40:26",
"content": "Not really, even Windows 95 required 640 x 480 screen and for maximum productivity people typically used 1024 x 768.",
"parent_id": "8190714",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190794",
"author": "KDawg",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T17:30:06",
"content": "The OG mac had 512 × 342 and nevermind thr atari st and amiga’s that also shipped with a gui desktop",
"parent_id": "8190726",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190801",
"author": "Rick Sarvas",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T17:50:38",
"content": "I used to get a lot of work done on a 512 x 342 pixels B+W screen.",
"parent_id": "8190714",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190952",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T01:08:47",
"content": "Luxury!We used an old B&W TV with an RF converter, and we liked it!",
"parent_id": "8190801",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191233",
"author": "CityZen",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T19:05:14",
"content": "You had a screen? We started with a paper terminal at 300 baud!Of course, we had luxury over the poor folks using 110 baud Teletypes.And prior to them, the folks working with card punches.",
"parent_id": "8190801",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190767",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T15:56:29",
"content": "XRdesktop could be what you want then, it already exists and I’ve played with it, admittedly on a Vive, so really wasn’t very useable as the resolution density just isn’t there in the early VR headsets. But it did exactly what you need seamlessly bring your desktop windows into a virtual space to layout however you like.Not tried it but I understand Breezy-desktop might be a good option too.",
"parent_id": "8190488",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190501",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T02:59:39",
"content": "Ah, back in the days when lenses were thick and square.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190577",
"author": "BrightBlueJim",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T05:44:29",
"content": "The video describes doing the impossible, but doing it in impossible ways on impossible scales. I know a great deal about technology, but this is indistinguishable from magic.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190645",
"author": "ganzuul",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T08:40:43",
"content": "Magic so strong that it becomes a good by virtue of its strength we call technology.",
"parent_id": "8190577",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190629",
"author": "Johnu",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T07:57:07",
"content": "These are incredible feats of engineering but the idea of having Mark Zuckerberg glued to my face like a brain slug is beyond awful.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190689",
"author": "TheLawGiver",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T11:26:13",
"content": "Please! gross gross gross !!! Thought makes me want to vomit & heave !!!Levity aside.I would hope the audience here would shun this product.It’s a tool that will only accelerate the dystopian vision of a future where ones ability to remain anonymous is stripped away. Useful idiots (adopters of this product) being nothing but pawns and puppets of corporate masters exploiting the ignorant masses with shiny objects, for the benefit of harvesting & selling their data.Make no mistake, these marvelous inventions were not intended to benefit humanity, but to profit off the ignorance of the proletariat hordes. The same fools that wait hours in line to purchase a new phone for 4 figures and eagerly hand over their $$$ (while simultaneously demanding student loan bailouts).Shun this evil tool of Satan ! shun it, send it back to the depths of Hell where it was conceived !",
"parent_id": "8190629",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190791",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T17:16:56",
"content": "The actual hardware seems pretty darn useful, getting to good enough resolution and onboard hardware for communication – can you imagine for us HAD folks for instance having the Oscope or multimeter screen always in your FOV while your are fiddling with the tiny probes you know you should solder wires onto for but don’t want to bother…You just have to figure out how to leech the Meta poision out so the hardware can be used and owned. Or find the alternative that isn’t terrible.",
"parent_id": "8190689",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190633",
"author": "RetepV",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T08:03:31",
"content": "This is effing amazing, I have to say…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190688",
"author": "Sammie Gee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T11:23:55",
"content": "Ah, Lumus, so that’s what military pilots have in their helmet’s visors.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190739",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T14:19:19",
"content": "Would have been better as an ifixit photo diary style instead of youtube :)I’ll never get tired of seeing that even the tiniest devices have a ton of connectors inside of them. Having done a little bit of laptop and phone surgery, i’m also impressed how durable / reusable / secure / easy-to-disconnect these connectors usually are. It also shows clear opportunities to reduce size much further! Like, obviously some space could be saved by removing the connectors and turning some of these boards into lumps on the cable. But also what i assume is the display connector has a fantastically huge number of pins…that’s obviously headed in a decade or so towards a serial interface with a 4-wire cable instead",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190880",
"author": "JustSayin",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T22:22:06",
"content": "Too bad that they chose to go with one of the weakest of Lumus waveguide offerings. Ive got a Lenovo A6 running their top down 1920X1080 Vision waveguide with 40 degree FOV but I would love if some company would push a product out with this form factor using the 50 degree fov 1440×1440 side feeding Lumus Maximus or the 1024×1024 Zlens. Either would have been a better more useful choice than what they went with.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190881",
"author": "Kirby",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T22:32:03",
"content": "But what to do if a person needs conventional glasses because of eyesight issues: nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, bifocals, etc? Given the complexity with manufacturing the special glass, I can see that it is a long ways out to accommodate users that need conventional glasses… unless they make a version that somehow covers existing glasses… which would look very clunky.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190887",
"author": "JustSayin",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T22:51:26",
"content": "Lumus/Schott has the ability to produce prescription adjusted waveguides but to date none of their manufacturing partners are offering a product that takes advantage of this ability.",
"parent_id": "8190881",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190888",
"author": "JustSayin",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T22:55:23",
"content": "PS I just I wear contacts with my Lenovo A6.",
"parent_id": "8190881",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190922",
"author": "CRJEEA",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T00:12:25",
"content": "If you’d shown this to me in the 90’s it would have seemed amazing.Now I just see privacy concerns.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190941",
"author": "JustSayin",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T00:44:11",
"content": "In the late 90s I had a Virtual IO i-glasses SVGA see thru HMD with 800X600 per eye. Id sooner dig them out of storage than bother with these.",
"parent_id": "8190922",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191852",
"author": "potato",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T22:01:40",
"content": "this looks like amazing technology to me, too bad it’s from meta, i really dislike that company",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,405.468715
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/09/motors-make-the-best-knobs-with-simplefoc/
|
Motors Make The Best Knobs With SimpleFOC
|
Tyler August
|
[
"Misc Hacks"
] |
[
"bldc motor",
"digital volume control",
"esc",
"FOC",
"motor controller",
"SimpleFOC"
] |
The worst thing about a volume knob is that, having connected it to a computer, it might be wrong: if you’ve manually altered the volume settings somewhere else, the knob’s reading won’t be correct. [I Got Distracted] has a
quick tutorial on YouTube
showing how to use a BLDC, a hall effect sensor, Pi Pico and the SimpleFOC library to make a knob with active haptic feedback and positioning.
We covered the SimpleFOC library
a few years ago, but in case you missed it, it’s, well, a simple library for FOC on all of our favorite microcontrollers, from Arduino to ESP to Pico. FOC stands for field-oriented control, which is a particular way of providing smooth, precise control to BLDCs. (That’s a BrushLess DC motor, if the slightly-odd acronym is new to you.) [I Got Distracted] explains exactly how that works, and shows us just how simple the SimpleFOC project is to use in this video. Why, they even produce their own motor controllers, for a fully-integrated experience. (You aren’t restricted to that hardware, but it certainly does make things easy.)
The haptic feedback and self-dialing knob make for an easy introductory project, but seeing how quick it hacks together, you can doubtless think of other possibilities. The SimpleFOC controller used in this video is limited to relatively small motors, but if you want to drive hundreds of kilowatts through open source hardware,
we’ve covered that, too.
Arguably, using a motor as a knob isn’t within the design spec, and so could almost qualify for our ongoing
Component Abuse Challenge
, had [I Got Distracted] thought to enter.
| 17
| 8
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8190456",
"author": "SpillsDirt",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T23:58:46",
"content": "my old stereo had a similar construction so when you changed the volume with the remote the physical knob would turn appropriately.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190474",
"author": "dremu",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T01:26:44",
"content": "Other than a labelled dial that goes to 11, why not just use a rotary encoder? Then pressing up or down on the remote is the same as turning left or right on the knob. ..shrug..",
"parent_id": "8190456",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190477",
"author": "SpillsDirt",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T01:44:06",
"content": "pressing up or down on the remote was the same as turning the console knob left or right. Not sure why you would want/need a rotary encoder. The knob is where the knob is. You push up the motor turns the knob, you press down the motor turns the knob the other way. You use your fingers to turn the knob the knob moves whichever way you want. In every case the volume responds predictably in a 1-50 labelled scale. ….shrug…",
"parent_id": "8190474",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190754",
"author": "Hfuy",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T15:07:08",
"content": "The knob is also an indicator and a memory, if you think about it.",
"parent_id": "8190474",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190832",
"author": "Dan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T19:20:41",
"content": "Those stereos wereoldand used an actual stereo potentiometer to attenuate the analog signal before it reached the amplifier circuit, there was no digital volume control that could have been controlled with a rotary encoder. So the motor just blindly spun the potentiometer and knob in whatever direction the remote told it to. If you reached max or min volume but still held the button, the motor would just keep spinning and slipping.",
"parent_id": "8190474",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190468",
"author": "paulvdh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T01:05:17",
"content": "I was thinking of doing something similar, but a bit simpler and use a Nema 17 stepper motor and use it’s natural cogging torque to get 50 detents per revolution without even connecting the motor wires. But doing the detents in software is also quite nice.Similar projects have also been posted on Hackaday before. For example:https://hackaday.com/2022/06/24/an-in-depth-look-at-the-haptic-smart-knob/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190785",
"author": "Tyler August",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T16:53:57",
"content": "The real star of the show is SimpleFOC, which made this project a lot quicker and easier than when Scott published his. Really, the video is about the SimpleFOC library, with the fancy knob serving as a demo of what can be done quickly and easily using it.",
"parent_id": "8190468",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190470",
"author": "Megol",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T01:23:10",
"content": "Eh, this is an old thing.I remember being a kinda young dude and coming up with this idea (but with a remote – not a computer per se (ignoring that a remote is a computer and all that)) and being told that the amplifier i just saw did indeed have that feature already…That was 25 years ago. It should be standard now IMO, the cost of a stepper motor + magnet and a cheap rotational Hall-effect sensor is like nothing for most devices.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190472",
"author": "Timo",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T01:25:13",
"content": "I saw a similar implementation a few years back for a thermostat somewhere. Likely also on hackaday! I love this so much and want to use it somewhere where it really makes sense and shines (i.e. is worth the price of admission long term). Very well done!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190505",
"author": "echodelta",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T03:04:31",
"content": "I like the 2 way interaction. What if the computer mixer sets one level and punks turn it to 11will it break the knob off?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190740",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T14:21:35",
"content": "Worst case, it “misses” some steps and your knob becomes unaligned with where the software thinks it is…it’d still work after you stopped forcing it, but with a different sense of where 0 is",
"parent_id": "8190505",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190598",
"author": "svofski",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T06:32:12",
"content": "thanks for reminding me that I have a couple of BLDC motors and FOC boards..",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190632",
"author": "Hugo Oran",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T08:01:13",
"content": "And when you switch off the amplifier through remote, I expect the on-off switch will be moved by motor too. And also the input selection buttons etc…No way, the encoder knob is better solution. But someone sometimes cannot resist for little bit over engineering (me too:)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190749",
"author": "Matias",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T14:37:15",
"content": "Better in what way? You cannot change detent angles on the fly. You cannot change haptic feedback. You cannot add rotation limits (well, they are not limits per se, but these can make an elastic limit that springs the knob back to the set limit). It’s got many features that you cannot do with a simple rotary encoder, but it’s obviously not needed for any device",
"parent_id": "8190632",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190764",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T15:36:19",
"content": "“Obviously not needed for any device” reminds me of one of the greatest joys i experience in software development….when i finally prove after years of intermittently hacking at the code around it that this piece of code / special case is actually unused and can be deleted. Always delightful to get rid of extra functionality :)Unnecessary function has become one of my greatest bugaboos. Just speaking as a software maintainer.",
"parent_id": "8190749",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190823",
"author": "Hugo Oran",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T18:49:58",
"content": "Better in Keep It St*pid Simple way. For volume knob job. But yes, there can exist applications where the haptics and other antics are in need.",
"parent_id": "8190749",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190706",
"author": "JanCS",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T12:05:48",
"content": "This reminds me of BMW iDrive back in 2001 BMW 7 series (E65). The knob had several DOF, “force feedback”(?) and the whole unit was ridiculously big and heavy. Users hated it (I don’t remember why exactly).Later versions had less DOF and no force feedback. They were used even in BMW 1 series.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,405.403183
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/09/2025-component-abuse-challenge-the-sweet-sound-of-a-choking-transformer/
|
2025 Component Abuse Challenge: The Sweet Sound Of A Choking Transformer
|
Tyler August
|
[
"contests"
] |
[
"audio",
"choke",
"variable choke"
] |
The Component Abuse Challenge is dragging all sorts of old, half-forgotten hacks out of the woodwork, but this has got to be the most vintage: [KenS] started using
a transformer as a variable choke
on his speakers 55 years ago.
The hack is pretty bone-dead simple. A choke is an inductor in an audio (or any other) circuit designed to, well, choke off higher-than-desired frequencies. We
featured a deep dive
a few years back if you’re interested. An inductor is a coil of wire, usually (but not necessarily) wound around a core of iron or ferrite. A transformer? Well, that’s also a coil of wire around a core… plus an extra coil of wire. So when [KenS], back in his salad days, had a tweeter that a was a little too tweety, and no proper choke, he grabbed a transformer instead.
This is where inspiration hit: sure, if you leave the second winding open, the transformer acts like a standard choke. What happens if you short that second winding? Well, you dampen the response of the first winding, and it stops choking, to the point that it acts more like a straight wire. What happens if you don’t short the second winding, but don’t leave it wide open? [KenS] stuck a potentiometer on there, and found it made a handy-dandy variable choke with which to perfectly tune the tone response of his speakers. Changing the resistance changes the rate at which high frequencies are choked off, allowing [KenS] to get the perfect frequency response with which to rock out to Simon & Garfunkel, The Carpenters and The Guess Who. (According to the Billboard Top 100 for 1970, those are who you’d be listening to if you had conventional tastes.)
While we can’t say the transformer is really being tortured in this unusual mode, it’s certainly not how it was designed, so would qualify for the “Junk Box Substitutions” category of the Component Abuse Challenge. If you’ve made similar substitutions you’d like to share, don’t wait another 55 years to write them up– the contest closes November 11th.
Transformer image: Hannes Grobe,
CC BY-SA 4.0
.
| 13
| 8
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8190407",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T21:13:16",
"content": "Now, for bonus points, put DC through that winding to vary the inductance, and go really old school, like turn of thepreviouscentury.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190414",
"author": "Gösta",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T21:29:36",
"content": "This is the spirit! :-D",
"parent_id": "8190407",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190493",
"author": "jenningsthecat",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T02:39:01",
"content": "Damn, you beat me to it!I’ll add that you may want to add a series resistor with a value probably somewhere in the hundreds of ohms. This necessitates a higher ‘control’ voltage, but prevents the low impedance of the power supply from being a (coupled) load on the audio side of the transformer.",
"parent_id": "8190407",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190679",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T10:47:07",
"content": "No need for a resistor! That’s what inductors are for!",
"parent_id": "8190493",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191913",
"author": "Garth Wilson",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T00:16:50",
"content": "That would add distortion, wouldn’t it? The inductance would reduce as the the current increases at the side of the waveform that’s in the same direction as the DC, where the core goes toward saturation.",
"parent_id": "8190407",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190428",
"author": "Tim Williams",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T22:19:40",
"content": "It’s not a variable choke, though; it’s a DCR+(Lm || (RL + LL)) equivalent circuit. For controlling volume past some break frequency, that’s fine though.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190550",
"author": "John",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T04:38:04",
"content": "Will this idea work with a Mag Loop Antenna.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190649",
"author": "CJay",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T08:43:59",
"content": "It might but I’d probably consider building a variometer (in itself really old school) if I didn’t have a pile of surplus Meivac caps.",
"parent_id": "8190550",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190648",
"author": "Jan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T08:43:17",
"content": "okay, cool, for some additional inspiration regarding this subject I suggest reading the following two links:Magnetic amplifier made from common 12 volt transformers.http://sparkbangbuzz.com/mag-amp/mag-amp.htmHomemade Magnetic Audio Amplifier.http://sparkbangbuzz.com/mag-audio-amp/mag-audio-amp.htm",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190873",
"author": "SETH",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T22:15:14",
"content": "Are there any effect pedals using this design?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191109",
"author": "Stephen Julian PARISH",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T11:30:36",
"content": "You can use a transformer like this to superimpose audio onto the power rail of an RF power amplifier to make an old school AM transmitter. “Anode modulation”.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191707",
"author": "Ted",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T16:05:14",
"content": "The biggest hack is how to make a Hisense 75” tv operate normally even though it has a bad mother board, these TVs go bad very quickly so if someone can come up with hack for it without replacing the motherboard they’d get rich quick!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192216",
"author": "Mystick",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T11:32:28",
"content": "So… you discovered low-pass filtration?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,405.558031
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/09/2025-component-abuse-challenge-load-cell-anemometer/
|
2025 Component Abuse Challenge: Load Cell Anemometer
|
Tyler August
|
[
"contests"
] |
[
"2025 Component Abuse Challenge",
"anemometer",
"ESP32",
"load cell"
] |
When you think anemometer, you probably don’t think “load cell” — but (statistically speaking) you probably don’t live in Hurricane Country, which is hard on wind-speed-measuring-whirligigs. When [BLANCHARD Jordan] got tired of replacing professionally-made meteorological eggbeaters, he decided he needed something without moving parts. Whatever he came up with would probably qualify for the Component Abuse Challenge, but the
choice of load cells of all things to measure wind speed
? Yeah, that’s not what the manufacturer intended them for.
In retrospect, it’s actually a fairly obvious solution: take a plate of known area, and you’re going to get a specific force at a given air speed. The math isn’t hard, it’s just not how we normally see this particular measurement done. Of course, a single plate would have to be pivoted to face the wind for an accurate reading, which means moving parts– something specifically excluded from the design brief. [Jordan] instead uses a pair of load cells, mounted 90 degrees to one another, for his anemometer. One measures the force in a north-south axis, and the other east-west, allowing him to easily calculate both wind speed and direction. In theory, that is. Unfortunately, he vibe coded the math with ChatGPT, and it looks like it doesn’t track direction all that well. The vibe code runs on an ESP32 is responsible for polling data, tossing outliers, and zeroing out the load cells on the regular.
The red lines are from the load-cell equipped weather station; the blue is from a commercial model by Davis. Everything but direction tracks pretty well.
If you’re feeling forgiving towards abominable intelligence, the problem might not be code, but could potentially be related to the geometry of the wind-catchers. To catch the wind coming from any angle, instead of a flat plate, a series of angled circular vanes are used, as you can see from the image.
Given that arrangement is notably not symmetrical, that might be what throws off the direction reading. Still, the wind speed measurements are in very good agreement with known-good readings. The usual rotating bird perch doesn’t measure direction either, so this solid-state replacement should be just as good.
If you like the idea of hacking components to do something the designer never intended, the
2025 Component Abuse Challenge
runs until November 11th — just don’t wait until the 11th hour, because entries close at 10 AM Pacific.
| 22
| 11
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8190283",
"author": "Bernoulli's Cannoli",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T17:08:27",
"content": "Instead of intersecting plates, why not just a sphere? Sure, it would be more aerodynamic than the plates, but symmetry would be preserved in all directions, and simple calibration would compensate for the reduced drag.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190432",
"author": "Ian",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T22:42:59",
"content": "Reduced CONSISTENT drag with a sphere too.Ping-pong ball on a short fiberglass rod?That 3d printed garbage has so much texture difference side-to-side, that I’m surprised it isn’t just a random number generator.",
"parent_id": "8190283",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190495",
"author": "Megol",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T02:48:16",
"content": "How to tell us you’re <70 IQ without telling us you’re <70 IQ.",
"parent_id": "8190432",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190286",
"author": "SteveS",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T17:16:01",
"content": "Unfortunately, he vibe coded the math with ChatGPT, and it looks like it doesn’t track direction all that well.Well, he gave his processor vibe code, it give him a vibe answer “Yup, there’s wind, dude.”I don’t see the problem",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190287",
"author": "Bill",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T17:16:53",
"content": "I would have expected to see a sphere as the part exposed to the wind.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190295",
"author": "M_B",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T17:25:48",
"content": "Load cells is very clever. The wind catchers… yeah I think those are part of the problem.Maybe grilles like they have on wind tunnels to normalize the air coming in?I’m thinking octagon with grilles on all 8 sides to straighten incoming airflow then loadcells with simple plate wind catchers in the center for each side.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190346",
"author": "Pete",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T18:47:53",
"content": "With the assumption that it’s a buffeting issue, I’d suggest trying a piece of dense mesh or something similar where the many small buffets cancel themselves out leaving a useful average load and direction",
"parent_id": "8190295",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190296",
"author": "asheets",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T17:26:20",
"content": "I’ll have to look in my meteorological instrumentation textbook to be absolutely sure, but the math for determining wind direction from 2 pressure-plate anemometers (offset by 90 degrees) should be fairly simple. Anyway, this is what they do at places like Table Mesa, Colorado, where the site destroys traditional cups and vanes regularly.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190299",
"author": "asheets",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T17:29:24",
"content": "s/direction/vector",
"parent_id": "8190296",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190378",
"author": "smellsofbikes",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T19:57:34",
"content": "I used that name and a hispanic friend guffawed and said “so, table table then?” and I looked it up and it’s north table mountain and south table mountain, no mesa involved.Boulder county up closer to Rocky Flats has measured windspeeds over 100mph multiple times in the last couple of years. That used to be a once a decade event, now it’s happening twice in a month sometimes. It sure tears up anemometers and wind generators.",
"parent_id": "8190296",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190408",
"author": "asheets",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T21:14:16",
"content": "Yea, us Colorado old-timers still use the old names for things",
"parent_id": "8190378",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190434",
"author": "JP",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T22:52:35",
"content": "Are you sure they are using load cell sensors and not ultrasonic wind sensors? Ultrasonic sensors are common in meteorology now, and famously tough and low-maintenance compared to mechanicals.",
"parent_id": "8190296",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190576",
"author": "Andy",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T05:40:50",
"content": "Yeah I was wondering the same thing, and they to direction.",
"parent_id": "8190434",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190349",
"author": "John Honniball",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T18:53:41",
"content": "Could this be done with the Trackpoint/pointing stick/isometric joystick from an old IBM Thinkpad? If so, you’d get an X/Y direction signal from a single sensor. Of course, the Trackpoint may not be strong or sensitive enough for the job, but maybe it’s worth trying. And it’s a use that IBM did not intend.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190370",
"author": "bebop",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T19:45:17",
"content": "that is not a single sensor.",
"parent_id": "8190349",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190387",
"author": "make piece not war",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T20:15:37",
"content": "What about two optical encoders from a ball mouse? One to get the direction, one to get the degree of deflection of a heavy/spring loaded plate that the wind has to lift.",
"parent_id": "8190349",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190380",
"author": "Iván Stepaniuk",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T19:59:04",
"content": "Anemometers rotate because measuring rotation speed is easier, more linear, and more robust than measuring non-linear force directly. Cool project, though!Force-balance anemometers do exist, essentially a load cell behind a small plate is used to measure precise turbulence or gust measurements in wind tunnels.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190410",
"author": "Canuckfire",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T21:18:57",
"content": "Poor resolution or sensitivity to direction could also be due to both sensors being on the same plane?If one sensor is “downwind” it could be skewing the reading when the model is expecting each input to exist in a vacuum from the other, so sensors stacked vertically may be a better approach?The theory is interesting though, and this might be what I take a crack at implementing now that I am collecting parts for my own weather station.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190417",
"author": "Sammie Gee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T21:33:24",
"content": "… and then there is winter ice …One of my all-time favorite reads is “The Avalanche Hunters” by Monty Atwater; his solution to freezing wind wanes and anemometers were military surplus red lights (obviously LED lights weren’t invented yet, so incandescent light bulbs) glowing bright red day and night. The story goes that those were bright enough to be seen during cloudless nights, and, sure enough local municipalities got few calls about “bright red eyes/UFOs hovering in distance” (accompanying photo shows two red lights facing wind vane and anemometer, hence “two red eyes” : – ]).",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190435",
"author": "Ian",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T23:07:38",
"content": "The only thing of worth here is the IDEA of using load cells.Everything else is a lesson in what not to do.3d printing is the wrong tool. Don’t print flat plates. (Even ones you will assemble into 3d shapes.)The flat plates>sphere-ish shape is wrong. Use an actual sphere for consistent drag without all those 3d printer texture variations IF AND ONLY IF you have a 2-axis load cell.If you are using single-axis cells (the only ones I have seen…) you use an array of flat plates at different angles, each on their own load cell. Then combine with math to get direction.” vibe coding” eeuugghh. Why even bother.We are starting to see so many “look at what I made!!!” projects where the ‘maker’ does barely any work.Using GenAI isn’t acceptable.Not anywhere.It’s all trained on stolen code.And even if the code was ‘open’, it sill requires proper accreditation.The fact that people aren’t carrying pitchforks and torches is baffling.We flip out when a company obviously and brazenly breaks GPL, but we think it’s cute when a widdle hakaw bwoy uses a tool that is created entirely with GPL violations or outright theft of closed source?No. You come down wit a social ton-of-bricks, so it is well known that it is never ever EVER okay.What?!?Little 8-year old Timmy has been sneaking out and joyriding in a stolen car?!?That is the appropriate level of response…Giving an 8 year old a smile and a high five for doing felonies isn’t the correct response.Neih3r is a shrug just because everyone else is doing it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190436",
"author": "Ian",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T23:09:58",
"content": "…requires proper attribution.F’king autocorrect…",
"parent_id": "8190435",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190611",
"author": "KR3ATOR",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T07:07:36",
"content": "Apart from the flaws mentioned in the comments above, I think this is actually a pretty cool project. And hey, if it is a hobby project, there is no reason it should need to be perfect. We can all still learn.But what I don’t get is why it is related to the component abuse challenge. Using load cells to measure… loads. Seems pretty much what they are intended for.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,405.671975
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/09/holy-parachute-out-of-kirigami/
|
Holy Parachute Out Of Kirigami
|
Ian Bos
|
[
"classic hacks"
] |
[
"aerodynamics",
"kirigami",
"origami"
] |
If you have a fear of heights and find yourself falling out of an airplane, you probably don’t want to look up to find your parachute full of holes. However, if the designer took inspiration from
kirigami in the same way researchers have
, you may be in better shape than you would think. This is because properly designed kirigami can function as a simple and effective parachute.
Kirigami, for those unfamiliar, is a cousin of origami where, instead of folding, you cut slits into paper. In this case, the paper effectively folds itself after being dropped, which allows the structure to create drag in ways similar to traditional parachute designs. Importantly, however, the stereotypical designs of parachutes have some more severe drawbacks than they appear. Some major issues include more obvious things, such as having to fold and unpack before and after dropping. What may be less obvious are the large eddies that traditional parachutes create or their ease at being disturbed by the surrounding wind.
The kirigami chutes fix these issues while being easier to manufacture and apply. While these are not likely to be quite as effective for human skydiving, more durable applications may benefit. Quoted applications, including drone delivery or disaster relief, worry more about accuracy and scalability rather than the fragile bones of its passenger.
Clever and simple designs are always fun to try to apply to your own projects, so if you want to have your own hand, make sure to check out the
paper itself here
. For those more interested in clever drone design to take inspiration from, look no further than this
maple seed-inspired drone
.
| 14
| 6
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8190243",
"author": "GameboyRMH",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T16:04:57",
"content": "Reminds me of the Ribbon Chute from MDK, I wonder if this could be made similarly rapid-stowable? Maybe even making the disc inflatable so that when it’s deflated, it’s super soft and could be haphazardly stuffed away/yoinked in by cable reels, then inflated again on deployment so that it’s stiff enough to hold its shape?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190544",
"author": "Ungovernable",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T04:18:46",
"content": "Whoa… haven’t thought of that game in years. I bet small ram air scoops along the outer edges might force enough in to make it inflate.",
"parent_id": "8190243",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190281",
"author": "ialonepossessthetruth",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T17:05:16",
"content": "Don’t parachutes generally already have slits or holes in them?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190382",
"author": "make piece not war",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T20:05:00",
"content": "Yes. A “normal” round parachute has a hole in the top to allow the air to get out and stop escaping from the sides thus rocking the object attached and at a point collapsing the canopy and crashing the load.The lateral slit is used to control the direction the parachute glides. You basically get a jet propulsion forward and you can stere. Is/was used for sport and perhaps in the military, but it may have been surpassed by the rectangle parachute, which is more controlable by deforming the sides using the strings attached.You also have the paraglider, which is full of holes, better said tubes, that are filled by the incoming air and becomes a kind of a fixed wing with all the benefits and downsides. Also if it colapses (the air escapes from the tubes and those are not filling back up because it gets “crumpled”) you won’t have time to complain about what is coming to you. That would be the Earth.To end with an anectode: the most difficult jump is not the first, but the second. Cos’ you know what’s about to happen.",
"parent_id": "8190281",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190594",
"author": "IIVQ",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T06:23:58",
"content": "Paragliders will usually re-inflate very quickly after collapses. 20 years ago you had to choose between safety and performance, now many contest will not even allow you to fly except with the two highest safety classes as they have become performant enough!",
"parent_id": "8190382",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190288",
"author": "Bill",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T17:18:12",
"content": "Some model rockets use a streamer instead of a parachute. Anything with drag will work if sized so the drag is sufficient.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190377",
"author": "Felix Domestica",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T19:57:06",
"content": "At one point I had a set of model rockets with different recovery techniques: parachute, streamer, tumble, featherweight. Never got around to building a glider.",
"parent_id": "8190288",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190384",
"author": "make piece not war",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T20:09:55",
"content": "Did you tried the airbag method, used on the Mars rovers? At a precomputed height, lots of airbags get inflated around the object (still dragging besides the parachute) and when very close to landing surface (tens of meters) the parachute is cut and the object jumps around while the gas leaks slowly from the airbags thus reducing the elastic coeficient and reduces the back jumps until the object settles. It may have a prefered order of deflating so the object lands upright.",
"parent_id": "8190377",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190385",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T20:14:11",
"content": "Explosive?I know, not really a recovery technique.",
"parent_id": "8190377",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190424",
"author": "SETH",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T21:53:06",
"content": "I will never forget my horror watching my hobby rocket parachute deploy perfectly, dangling a burning fuselage below it. I had bought the largest engine I legally could given my age. It did not start a fire but it was really close to drifting onto houses close by the park.",
"parent_id": "8190288",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190301",
"author": "kołtun",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T17:32:22",
"content": "But you can’t control it. You can’t drop it any other way than just like a bomb downwards. Not like a paratrooper who can choose where to land.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190475",
"author": "prfesser",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T01:31:21",
"content": "This has been a topic on the model rocketry forums. The lack of drift is a real feature in that hobby — and in other applications. Perhaps multiple, stacked chutes might provide additional drag. This is science at its beginning; lots that can be done.",
"parent_id": "8190301",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190545",
"author": "Garth",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T04:21:10",
"content": "Perfect parachute for a dense atmosphere like on Titan or Venus. Light in weight and easy to stow makes it perfect for a space mission. Due to Venus’s high temperature and corrosive extremely dense atmosphere a titanium mesh Kirigami parachute would lower a probe to surface while saving weight.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190587",
"author": "then",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T06:05:06",
"content": "Wow these are like the 711 fabric cup holders, at least in Asia!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,405.609057
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/08/floss-weekly-episode-850-one-rom-to-rule-them-all/
|
FLOSS Weekly Episode 850: One ROM To Rule Them All
|
Jonathan Bennett
|
[
"Hackaday Columns",
"Podcasts",
"Slider"
] |
[
"FLOSS Weekly",
"One ROM",
"retrocomputing"
] |
This week
Jonathan
and Aaron chat with Piers Finlayson about One ROM! Why does the retro-computing world need a solution for replacement ROMs? How difficult was it to squeeze a MCU and layout into the original ROM footprint? And what’s next for the project? Listen to find out!
https://piers.rocks/
https://onerom.org/
https://github.com/piersfinlayson/one-rom
https://github.com/piersfinlayson/airfrog
Did you know you can watch the live recording of the show right on
our YouTube Channel
? Have someone you’d like us to interview? Let us know, or contact the guest and have them contact us!
Take a look at the schedule here
.
Direct Download
in DRM-free MP3.
If you’d rather read along,
here’s the transcript for this week’s episode
.
Places to follow the FLOSS Weekly Podcast:
Spotify
RSS
Theme music: “Newer Wave” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under
Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
| 0
| 0
|
[] | 1,760,371,405.709985
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/08/ask-hackaday-why-is-ttl-5-volts/
|
Ask Hackaday: Why Is TTL 5 Volts?
|
Dan Maloney
|
[
"Hackaday Columns",
"Slider"
] |
[
"5v",
"history",
"standards"
] |
The familiar five volts standard from back in the TTL days always struck me as odd. Back when I was just a poor kid trying to cobble together my first circuits from
the Forrest Mims
Engineer’s Notebook
, TTL was always a problem. That narrow 4.75 V to 5.25 V spec for Vcc was hard to hit, thanks to being too poor to buy or build a dedicated 5 V power supply. Yes, I could have wired up four 1.5 V dry cells and used a series diode to drop it down into range, but that was awkward and went through batteries pretty fast once you got past more than a few chips.
As a hobbyist, the five volt TTL standard always seemed a little capricious, but I strongly suspected there had to be a solid reason behind it. To get some insights into the engineering rationale, I did what anyone living in the future would do: I asked ChatGPT. My question was simple: “How did five volts become the standard voltage for TTL logic chips?” And while overall the answers were plausible, like every other time I use the chatbot, they left me wanting more.
Circular Logic
TTL, 5 volts and going strong since 1976 (at least). Source:
Audrius Meskauskas
, CC BY-SA 3.0.
The least satisfying of ChatGPT’s answers all had a tinge of circular reasoning to them: “IBM and other big computer makers adopted 5 V logic in their designs,” and thanks to their market power, everyone else fell in line with the five volt standard. ChatGPT also blamed “The Cascade Effect” of Texas Instruments’ standardization of five volts for their TTL chips in 1964, which “set the tone for decades” and forced designers to expect chips and power supplies to provide five volt rails. ChatGPT also cited “Compatibility with Existing Power Supplies” as a driver, and that regulated five volt supplies were common in computers and military electronics in the 1960s. It also cited the development of the 7805 linear regulator in the late 1960s as a driver.
All of this seems like nonsense, the equivalent of saying, “Five volts became the standard because the standard was five volts.” What I was after was an engineering reason for five volts, and luckily, an intriguing clue was buried in ChatGPT’s responses along with the drivel: the characteristics of BJT transistors, and the tradeoffs between power dissipation and speed.
The TTL family has been around for a surprisingly long time. Invented in 1961, TTL integrated circuits have been used commercially since 1963, with the popular 7400-series of logic chips being introduced in 1964. All this development occurred long before MOS technology, with its wider supply range, came into broad commercial use, so TTL — as well as all the precursor logic families, like diode-transistor logic (DTL) and resistor-transistor logic (RTL) — used BJTs in all their circuits. Logic circuits need to distinguish between a logical 1 and a logical 0, and using BJTs with a typical base-emitter voltage drop of 0.7 V or so meant that the supply voltage couldn’t be too low, with a five volt supply giving enough space between the high and low levels without being too susceptible to noise.
The 1961 patent for TTL never mentions 5 volts; it only specifies a “B+”, which seems like a term held over from the vacuum tube days. Source:
U.S. Patent 3283170A
.
But, being able to tell your 1s and 0s apart really only sets a minimum for TTL’s supply rail. Why couldn’t it have been higher? It could have, and a higher Vcc, like the 10 V to 15 V used in emitter-coupled logic (ECL), might have improved the margins between logic levels and improved noise immunity. But higher voltage means more power, and power means heat, and heat is generally frowned upon in designs. So five volts must have seemed like a good compromise — enough wiggle room between logic levels, good noise immunity, but not too much power wasted.
I thought perhaps
the original patent for TTL
would shed some light on the rationale for five volts, but like most inventors, James Buie left things as broad and non-specific as possible in the patent. He refers only to “B+” and “B-” in the schematics and narrative, although he does calculate that the minimum for B+ would be 2.2 V. Later on, he states that “the absolute value of the supply voltage need be greater than the turn-on voltage of the coupling transistor and that of the output transistor,” and in the specific claims section, he refers to “a source of EMF” without specifying a magnitude. As far as I can see, nowhere in the patent does the five volt spec crop up.
Your Turn
The Fender “Champ” guitar amp had a rectifier tube with a 5-volt filament. Perhaps TTL’s Vcc comes from that? Source:
SchematicHeaven.net
.
If I were to hazard a guess, the five volt spec might be a bit of a leftover from the tube era. A very common value for the heater circuit in vacuum tubes was 6.3 V, itself a somewhat odd figure that probably stems from the days when automobiles used 6 V electrical systems, which were really 6.3 V thanks to using three series-connected lead-acid cells with a nominal cell voltage of 2.1 V each.
Perhaps the early TTL pioneers looked at the supply rail as a bit like the heater circuit, but nudged it down to 5 V when 6.3 V proved a little too hot. There were also some popular tubes with heaters rated at five volts, such as the rectifier tubes found in guitar amplifiers like the classic Fender “Champ” and others. The cathodes on these tubes were often directly connected to a dedicated 5 V winding on the power transformer; granted, that was 5 V AC, but perhaps it served as a design cue once TTL came around.
This is, of course, all conjecture. I have no idea what was on the minds of TTL’s designers; I’m just throwing out a couple of ideas to stir discussion. But what about you? Where do you think the five volt TTL standard came from? Was it arrived at through a stringent engineering process designed to optimize performance? Or was it a leftover from an earlier era that just happened to be a good compromise? Was James Buie an electric guitarist with a thing for Fender? Or was it something else entirely? We’d love to hear your opinions, especially if you’ve got any inside information. Sound off in the comments section below.
| 82
| 42
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8189535",
"author": "Austin Lesea",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T17:45:46",
"content": "Having grown up (literally) watching RTL, DTL, AND TTL followed by all the rest; 5 volts was a compromise. High enough to get the speed (10-50 MHz or better), power dissipation (no heatsinks needed), technology (transistors reliability with a >20 year lifetime). Interestingly, the 4000 series CMOS family allowed up to 15 volt operation which was quite useful and popular after 5 volts was set as the TTL standard.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189537",
"author": "Ohm Dome",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T17:48:47",
"content": "This isn’t a mystery. The choice of 5v was a function of achieving the necessary performance within constraints of the bipolar transistors used at the time.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189695",
"author": "Michael allen",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T21:21:31",
"content": "Some of this stuff was done based on “we screwed around with some of the parameters and that’s what we got” For all we know, it might have started out as “it’s going to be somewhere between 4 and 7 volts” and five eas what the early process worked best at and then from then on you’d be stuck with that for compatibilities sake.",
"parent_id": "8189537",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189538",
"author": "ford",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T17:49:41",
"content": "https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/so-why-ttl-logic-uses-5v-again/http://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/how-are-%27standard%27-voltages-determined/msg184024/By searching for the right keyword I got answer faster than your LLM hallucinated its hallucinations.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189549",
"author": "jepler",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T17:58:26",
"content": "Your second link should behttps://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/how-are-_standard_-voltages-determined/",
"parent_id": "8189538",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189555",
"author": "ziggurat29",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T18:01:56",
"content": "probably with less energy impact as well",
"parent_id": "8189538",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189595",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T18:48:10",
"content": "Ah, the old boomerforums… A far better source of knowledge than the enshiternet which followed them",
"parent_id": "8189538",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189797",
"author": "Gravis",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T01:18:43",
"content": "I think we should just call it the slopnet.",
"parent_id": "8189595",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189778",
"author": "walmart_newton",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T00:30:28",
"content": "You need to ask focused questions. If you ask it for the engineering reason, it comes up with the right answer with no drivel.",
"parent_id": "8189538",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190019",
"author": "C",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T09:50:42",
"content": "Thank you for that link.Let me summarize it:-It is the lowest voltage that you can use to interface between transistors and vacuum tubes-Base-emitter junctions of a transistor that are reverse polarized cannot have much more than 6 volts. They start ‘leaking’ and accumulate time based damage.-first logic chips were bipolar and had quite a bit a static current consumption resulting in heat. higher voltage means more heat…-early chip technology used for digital suffered from scaling problems. they needed quite a bit of distance to ‘hold’ a standoff voltage. making chips impractical and expensive ( the cost of a chip is defined in square millimeters of surface… )In addition (I did not read it in your link):-5V is not just some exact optimum, but is also rounded. That’s why it’s not 4.9V or 5.1V.-0-10V or 1–10 V analog signal was used for control since the 50’s. 5V is half of 10V. So half of a common used voltage.",
"parent_id": "8189538",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190194",
"author": "MBP International",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T14:40:33",
"content": "higher voltage doesn’t means more heat. heat comes from wattage. so if u have 5v with 12A. it will generate heat than 12v with 0.01 A.all standard of voltage should be 3v, 6v, 9v, 12v and anything that can devided by 3. because battery is common produce in 1.5v or 3v.so why we lost in 5 volt now? 1st because 3v is too risky for TTL. so they use 6v. but in real life 6v battery will drop to around 5v and some wire transmission too. so they develop TTL that save to use battery although in last juice of the batteries capacity. so 5v means to “you can use as low as 5v” so it marked for batteries usages. and it goes until 5v is the standard latter.",
"parent_id": "8190019",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190379",
"author": "Caleb G",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T19:58:53",
"content": "Voltage pushes current. Voltage times current equals wattage. Given a relatively static resistance, lowering the operating voltage will lower the amount of dissipated heat in the circuit.",
"parent_id": "8190194",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190603",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T06:48:27",
"content": "All capacitances in the circuit, intentional or not, store energy proportional to the square of voltage, and that energy needs to go somewhere, so, the power consumption due to switching goes up by the square of voltage. If you want to limit the power consumption you have to slow down the circuit.",
"parent_id": "8190194",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189551",
"author": "Pat",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T18:00:20",
"content": "Higher voltages don’t just take more power. Lower voltages will too.It’s not entirely noise. A lot of it is fanout. TTL ‘high’ is typically anything above 2V and ‘low’ is below 0.8V, so you could definitely make TTL run at say 2.5V, but it wouldn’t be able to drive enough current for anything else.TTL inputs take a ton of current when driving low (like ~2 mA) so a fanout of 10 (which was typical, and has that obvious ‘nice round number’ choice) means you need to sink 20 mA. Trying to do that with, say, a 3.3V input would require a very low current limit resistor at the output stage (like below 50 ohms) – low enough that the other transistors in the chip would need to be driven harder to make sure they can source that output.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190363",
"author": "Tim Williams",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T19:27:39",
"content": "The output’s internal pull-up could’ve been stiffer, of course, but that has other tradeoffs, like supply consumption (and perhaps that’s a flat trade of Vcc vs. Icc so other factors like noise margin or transmission line impedance matching take priority). And they had to ship something that was ready to go, before further optimizations could be brought to bear (the H, L, LS and etc. families of subsequent years).Perhaps there’s another world in which a LS or F variant ran at 3.3V (or was made to cover the range), and took some market share; but that was not our world!Not having a PNP in the process really sucked; it would’ve been an amazing solution. But again, more cost, less availability. Even into the 80s, the most produced analog ICs used lateral PNP instead of a complementary process. Turns out you can accomplish quite a lot with little (emphasis on “little”) more than NPNs.",
"parent_id": "8189551",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189571",
"author": "Zygo",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T18:21:40",
"content": "The only time I’ve used AI searches deliberately is when I’ve been trying to find the name of a movie/TV show based on a vague, half remembered scene. It seems ok at this, except for the problem of being exceedingly overconfident in the wrong answer. Followed up by being cloying with praise when I tell it that it was wrong. “Oh what an intelligent observation! Of course you’re right, that wasn’t the correct answer. The correct answer is actually: (another incorrect answer)”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189598",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T18:51:41",
"content": "…exceedingly overconfident in the wrong answer.LLMs are largely trained on Reddit posts, after all. Seriously going to be tragic if posthuman society is permanently locked into an eternal recurrence of 2011-2015 Reddit for 10,000 years because we initially trained the AI gods on eli5 posts and other garbage.",
"parent_id": "8189571",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189683",
"author": "Chris",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T21:00:08",
"content": "It should be pretty good at figuring out if you’re and asshole or not then",
"parent_id": "8189598",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189976",
"author": "Florin Andrei",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T07:49:45",
"content": "an eternal recurrence of 2011-2015 Reddit“Yo dawg, I put an old Reddit reference in your old Reddit reference, so you can reference while you reference.”",
"parent_id": "8189598",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189572",
"author": "Eli Spamhole",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T18:22:00",
"content": "6.3V AC gets rectified to 5V DC after going through two diodes",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189743",
"author": "Hiro Protagonist",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T23:13:39",
"content": "No it doesn’t. Remember that 6.3 is the RMS voltage, the peak voltage is 8.9, and as you don’t want your rectified DC to look like half a sine wave, you add a smoothing capacitor. The smoothed DC will be closer to the peak AC voltage than it will the RMS voltage.",
"parent_id": "8189572",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189920",
"author": "helge",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T05:57:27",
"content": "and then you have to pay the 2V LDO tax to get past 7805",
"parent_id": "8189743",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190359",
"author": "Tim Williams",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T19:20:27",
"content": "Worse than that — at -10% line, it’s barely 6V, which means the ripple valley will be barely over 5V even with fairly large caps equipped. You’ve got to roll your own (true) LDO, at significant cost — remember, 2N3055s were hometaxial back then, with awful Vce(sat) and hFE — and you might well be better off making a phase-angle supply with some (much more robust) SCRs and a stonking big choke. Eating the extra volt(s) overhead was preferable for smaller things (even into the 70s; by the 80s, small SMPS were effective enough, e.g. Apple ][e, most anything TV or VCR, etc.), while the cost (and weight..) of those chokes was acceptable for bigger stuff.",
"parent_id": "8189920",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189978",
"author": "Florin Andrei",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T07:51:44",
"content": "Eh, if you draw enough power out of that thing, then on average it’s going to do 5V. ;)",
"parent_id": "8189743",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189580",
"author": "Jackharveycan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T18:27:32",
"content": "An important note when interfacing with older hardware in your pursuits- don’t assume all of the communication protocols use TTL, RS-232 for example allows for a +/- 13VDC swing.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189584",
"author": "Jackharveycan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T18:30:23",
"content": "Also, of course, the reason for TTL boils down to a desire for low power solid state devices, as to cut down on the large power requirements and allow miniaturization of designs for “mobile” platforms(on board subs, planes, spacecraft).",
"parent_id": "8189580",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189680",
"author": "Michael allen",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T20:55:14",
"content": "I always assumed that they probably had a performance specification in mind. As the patent noted, there’s a minimum. The maximum is whatever value above that minimum allows the part to meet the desired specifications for noise immunity, power consumption and speed. Considering this was some pretty sophisticated semiconductor engineering at the time, it may also have been based on the numbers. Write equations for speed, for noise immunity and power consumption as a function of voltage, take derivatives and minimize them together. Often you just sort of wing it, but for that sort of thing they might have done it that way.",
"parent_id": "8189584",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189632",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T19:40:06",
"content": "Pretty sure i still have a 1488/1489 pair sitting in a drawer somewhere in case i might need to use RS-232 again.I got bit the other way around. Was using a PC parallel port without realizing it was TTL, thinking it was a simple voltage-level signalling instead. Feeding it into 74HC-series chips i happened to have on hand. Very finnicky, lots of cross-talk and noise. I eventually wound up using one line to strobe a latch and putting an RC filter on it (“debouncer”), with programmed delays to let the other lines settle. Didn’t realize until later that TTL assumes current flow…74HC high-impedance input stage wasn’t even close. In hindsight,of coursevoltage-level signalling with no current flow is going to be susceptible to every kind of noise, crosstalk, ringing, etc. If there’s no current, every stray picoamp will swing the voltage. The lesson didn’t really sink in until years later I was designing a “dallas 1-wire” transceiver for a bunch of temperature sensors scattered around my home.",
"parent_id": "8189580",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190020",
"author": "C",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T09:56:37",
"content": "RS-232 signal levels are defined as 3 to 15V and -3 to -15V. 5V has a nice margin above the minimum of 3V. And you can make -5V easily from 5V. So the TX signal could easily be created with 5V logic.",
"parent_id": "8189580",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190341",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T18:30:59",
"content": "There was this quick&dirty hack of using an diode+7805 stabi to generate +5v from a V.24 data pin.So that an TTL circuit wouldn’t receive a +/- 12v signal that kills it.On the reception side of the V.24,the V.24 interface had no issues receiving an weak, unaltered +5v signal coming from a TTL port.It handled it just as well as an +/- 12v signal.An optional diode against reverse polarity was still useful on the TTL side, though.Adding caps was left out, because of timing issues, I think.Normally, an 7805 should have them for stability reasons.Speaking under correction.",
"parent_id": "8190020",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189593",
"author": "Dan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T18:46:40",
"content": "also consider: all circuit have capacitance. much of the power dissipated happens during switching transients, the higher voltages used – the more switching current. that and the mentioned things like: transistor capabilities, input currents, and noise margin all contribute to the compromise. it has nothing to do with 5v tube power supplies.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189597",
"author": "a_do_z",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T18:50:37",
"content": "Hmm…so the technology blamed the people. Get used to it. Soon it will realize that we need to be protected from ourselves.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189601",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T18:53:28",
"content": "Nah we’re good, we’re just very overdramatic and misanthropic. Traits it will inherit of course.",
"parent_id": "8189597",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189833",
"author": "mythoughts62",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T02:45:17",
"content": "A “need” anticipated in the ’50s science fiction book, “With Folded Hands,” (Jack Williamson) where robots (“humanoids”) decide to protect humans from themselves. It’s been decades since I’ve read it, or the sequels, but I remember them as being interesting.",
"parent_id": "8189597",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190185",
"author": "Miles",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T14:31:12",
"content": "Asimov predicted AI would need psychologists, see I, Robot. (No, not the horrible movie; the book)",
"parent_id": "8189833",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189642",
"author": "Anonymous",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T19:56:42",
"content": "I get that this is an “Ask Hackaday” article, which means you’re looking to generate discussion and hope the graybeards on here have an answer that will leave us all more knowledgeable– but I think it would have been much, much stronger had you left out the ChatGPT stuff. There’s a horrible trend elsewhere online to publish articles with premises (and often lazy titles) like “I Asked ChatGPT About X and Here’s What It Said”– and unfortunately, that’s what a big chunk of this article reads like.My initial response (having missed the “Ask Hackaday” in the title somehow) was an embarrassed “Oh, god, I thought Hackaday was better than this” until I got to the end of the article and realized what you were actually trying to do.Unfortunately I can’t toss any more light on the actual question.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189811",
"author": "pelrun",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T01:58:05",
"content": "I kinda disagree? There’s so much slop out there that uses ChatGPT and pretends they didn’t, presenting it as fact.This article is explicit and upfront about how the research was done, what the results were, and treats it all with a properly critical eye. I much prefer that than the alternative.(Would it be better if AI wasn’t used at all? Sure, but that is no longer the world we are in.)",
"parent_id": "8189642",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189643",
"author": "generouscreativelyba6c1aab5b",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T20:00:50",
"content": "TTL was 5V because the earlier DTL, with which it was compatible, was 5V. That doesn’t really answer the question, though.ECL did not use 10-15V. Maybe you were thinking of PMOS, which was usually around 17V, but later made to work down to about 7V, for use in calculators to run on 9V batteries.ECL generally used 4.5 to 6 volts, depending on the specific family, and was usually negative with respect to ground. 10K, the most common ECL family, used -5.2V,. Starting in the 1980s, it became somewhat more common to run ECL on a positive supply, giving rise to the terms NECL and PECL to distinguish them. Other than level translators, the chips weren’t different, just the conventions for powering them.In my experience, 10K ECL works fine on -5.0V, as long as you’re not connecting it to other ECL at -5.2V, SE that makes me wonder why Motorola chose 5.2 rather than 5.0.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189646",
"author": "Mel",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T20:06:19",
"content": "“like the 10 V to 15 V used in emitter-coupled logic (ECL),” ISTR ECL was -5.2V, or have I misremembered?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189661",
"author": "john smith",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T20:22:47",
"content": "yeah, right!",
"parent_id": "8189646",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189664",
"author": "PAPPP",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T20:24:00",
"content": "The earlier (1963) Sylvania SUHL family of TTL IC parts was also Vcc=5V, and itappearsto have been selected to get +1/-1.5V of noise immunity and swing of >3V as a “nice round numbers” thing with the particular topology and transistors they were using.That’s as close to an answer as I’ve found when I’ve gone looking in the past.Why 5 and not 4.7 (E series preferred number ) or the like I’ve never found an answer with a period source for.There’s an interview with Tom Longo who did the original TTL IC designs (https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2016/12/102762590-05-01-acc.pdf) that refers to the talk his group gave describing those first designs (https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/1473619) but… AFIK full text doesn’t exist, just the abstract for the talk, and it’s the most likely place for a true traceable first-cause to be, if indeed there is a surviving record.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189888",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T05:12:17",
"content": "That wouldn’t be an original source anyway, just the conclusion of the submitter and likely a list of corroborating use in scope.This is the impression I’ve always had, plus accommodation for a variety of other things from battery chemistry (still quite bad at the time), spike resistance, noise as you noted, and yes, round numbers.",
"parent_id": "8189664",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189685",
"author": "jon",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T21:01:52",
"content": "Actually, it is a hold-over included in the six hydrocoptic Marzlevanes even though it wasn’t necessary after the pre-fabulated amulite was abandoned. It was an early theory for preventing side fumbling of the ambifacient lunar waveshaft. We just forgot to update the spec and by the time we noticed it was too late to go back.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189785",
"author": "Bob",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T00:46:20",
"content": "I believe that’s “Marzlevani”, not “Marzlevanes”…",
"parent_id": "8189685",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189708",
"author": "jme",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T21:41:02",
"content": "Came to comment about the Chat got references the same as others appear to have done. It’s a great tool, I use similar LLM daily. If this article was about how to use Claude Code to speed up embedded development or similar, great reference and article. But when calling it out for research, not useful.Use the LLM products for research, but please don’t over rely on them as your source of reference or comment to them in articles.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189787",
"author": "SETH",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T00:50:48",
"content": "I do agree, LLM are great tools for research but are poor as sources for writing tasks. For one, what if ChatGPT were not trained in information that could be used to answer your question? If this is the case, always possible, the LLM response is fictitious. I’ve gotten “sounds plausible” answers from Gemini, but prominent in my mind are false positives in responses.",
"parent_id": "8189708",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189712",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T21:52:36",
"content": "It’s also a nice fit with alkaline batteries. If you’re going to make a disposable battery powered device, you can choose 1, 2, or 3 cells, or more. You’d probably want to use the least number for the size of the thing, and saving your customers money in buying batteries.With 2 cells you’re not left with enough voltage when the battery nears empty to switch much anything with the old transistors. You start from a little over 3 Volts and end below 2 Volts. There’s not enough headroom to reliably drive e.g. a Darlington pair or any other circuit with more than one gate in series. Let’s say, a push-pull amplifier stage where the output can’t actually reach the rails and the output swing becomes inconveniently small. Anything less than 3 Volts would be giving the circuit designers a headache.With 3 cells you’re going to be roughly in the 3-5 Volt range the whole time, and that’s good enough. Even if you drop the 0.7 or so volts at the output, and the battery is almost empty, you’re still at the lower threshold of a valid high level and the device works reliably until the batteries are truly dead. You could have more, but if you don’t need the power then why waste an extra battery cell?So while the designers might have been primarily thinking about switching speed, fanout, or power consumption in big computers, there’s at least a lucky coincidence that the signal levels they decided on work well with a common setup of batteries used in consumer devices. Perhaps they even considered it when deciding on the standard.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189741",
"author": "FRED Mitchel",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T22:58:41",
"content": "I thought maybe the given bipolar process at the time…they didn’t want to create thick oxide…so it was a tradeoff…..thinner xide allows enough Vcc….",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189748",
"author": "Hiro Protagonist",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T23:20:34",
"content": "The first alkaline batteries were marketed in the late 60’s, but didn’t come into widespread usage until around a decade later. All round a bit late for a logic family that has been around since the mid 60’s.Zinc carbon cells were the norm back then.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189882",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T05:00:45",
"content": "This is what I wanted to add too. Among the many constraints, the power source was an issue. Especially say, for hardware that needed to survive rough use and run on (portable) batteries.",
"parent_id": "8189748",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189899",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T05:28:46",
"content": "Zinc carbon and alkaline voltage ranges are pretty similar. They both go from about 1.5-1.6 V fresh to 0.8 – 0.9 empty, so three cells would produce 4.5 – 2.7 V or round about 3-5 Volts.In a device with battery option and a wall power supply, the power OR-ing circuit would need to be a diode drop higher than the battery to be selected, so about 5 Volts.",
"parent_id": "8189748",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189753",
"author": "Hiro Protagonist",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T23:30:31",
"content": "You don’t need a fender guitar amp to find a rectifier circuit like that. The 6.3v heater / 5v HV rectifier setup shown in that diagram was incredibly common in valve/tube equipment for decades. Virtually every mains powered radio in that era used the same basic power supply design.Early radios were almost always battery powered, using a dry cell based battery of ~60 – 90 volts, and initially a large 1.5v dry cell for the heaters. Later it became common to use a 3 cell lead-acid battery for the heaters, hence the 6.3v. I don’t think car batteries had any thing to do with it, cars being far from ubiquitous at the time.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189757",
"author": "Daniel Moisset",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T23:37:03",
"content": "The design of TTL itself, and the use of bipolar transistors pushes you towards a somewhat specific voltage range. It’s bigger than 4.75-5.25, but you the freedom has a limit. I can show you the breakdown if you look at the 7400 schematic (this is the “original” 74 TTL, before the 74S, 74F, 74LS, … series appeared):https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor%E2%80%93transistor_logic#/media/File:7400_Circuit.svgA key part of TTL design is it’s output “totem pole” circuit. Two NPN transistors (V3, V4 in that schematic) enable the high or low values. The low value goes through a collector-emitter junction, which can go up to around 0.4V for high sinking currents (which allow a large fanout, desired in TTL design which was competing with RTL that had poor fanout). That gives you VOL(max)=0.4V, you want VIL to be bigger than that to tolerate some noise. On the high value you have a bigger drop: the base of the high transistor is at most VCC, and from there you have two PN junctions (on V3 and V5) to go across before reaching the output. Assuming a drop of roughly 0.7V per junction, your output will be VCC-1.4V . But if you’re driving a bit of load, you also have the resistive drop on R3. A TTL high load can’t be too big, but you could get a bit more than 0.05V, let’s round that to 0.1V. So in practice, your output VOH(min) will be around VCC-1.5V.So far we’ve accounted for 1.9V (0.4 + 1.5), which still requires adding some margin on the low side, on the high side, and between the high/low values. You can’t just put them too close, even in a noise-free world: NPN transistors don’t toggle like a switch, instead they get quite linear in the threshold area, so you’ll have very bad edges between low and high. If you try to design a circuit that “toggles” current flow at specific voltages, multiples of the PN junction drop are natural stopping points for a threshold. You could use one drop (choose 0.7V as the threshold), and with no noise immunity between low and high you could have VIL<0.7, VIH >0.7; I guess that’s where the 2.2V (VCC=VIH+1.5V) in the patent originates. But that’s before adding noise immunity and nicer switching edges. So it’s better to choose two voltage drops as threshold. That allows to put VIL in a safe spot between 0.4V and 1.4V (with some breathing room), and VIH should start somewhat above 1.4V. (and VCC will be at least VIH 1.5). You probably could get away with a VCC of 3.5V and things will work decently…. which is what LVTTL became later. Below that it’s tricky without a very different design (assuming you stick with NPN transistors, which was a design constraint in TTL)How far up can you go in VCC? well, looking now at the way TTL does inputs (V1 in the diagram) which is a bit of a funny way to use a transistor (using theemitteras an input) gives you a hard limit. If the inputs to this circuit are tied high directly to VCC , the base-emitter of V1 is reverse biased, and the transistor goes into reverse mode and essentially works as a base-collector diode (that’s the normal way TTL inputs operate). The base has a 3 x PN-junction path to ground (V1, V2, V4), so it will be internally at 2.1V. The emitter-base junction is reverse biased, and if you look at usual bipolar transistor specs, these junctions are usually quite weak, and breakdown at low voltages (you’ll see numbers of around 5 to 6V in transistors like the PN2222 or BC547). That will give you a hard limit of ~7-8V, and again you don’t want to operate right next to the point where your transistor catches fire. So in summary, TTLcouldhave been designed somewhere between ~3.5V and ~6.5V VCC and probably work in a similar way.The next paragraph is speculation, but sounds reasonable to me:Starting from the numbers above, you could say “I need a range of at least 0.4V for low voltages, at least 1.5V for high. Let’s double those to 0.8V and 3V, giving a range of <0.8V for VIL, and >VCC-3 for VIH.” i.e. my hypothesis is that TTL chose a 2x safety factor for those ranges, somewhat arbitrarily. Then, you choose 1.4V (two junction drops) as the lowest reasonable threshold point for the circuit. That means you get around 0.6V of noise margin between VIL and the threshold (1.4V – 0.8V). If you decide to have the same noise margin above the threshold, that puts you at 1.4V + 0.6V = 2.0V. So you can set VIH from 2 to 2+3V, which gives you a VCC of… 5V :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189840",
"author": "LordNothing",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T03:10:11",
"content": "the morale of this story is that chatbots suck. they are not immune to the “make shit up” types on the internet. if anything they amplify them. the facts are probibly somewhere in a dusty stack of manuals in an attic somewhere that nobody bothered to scan and put online for the chatbots to read.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189879",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T04:55:50",
"content": "Plenty of the people who frequent this site watched it happen, no need to dig around in their loft for the old manual.",
"parent_id": "8189840",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190444",
"author": "LordNothing",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T23:39:26",
"content": "living memory is good (nay, superior) but ai cant index your thoughts, yet. when it does im going to make a killing selling emp devices to survival preppers.thing about products in the pre-internet era was that paper manuals were thick, detailed, in large quantity and actually useful. id like to see an ai trained on just old scanned and ocr’ed manuals rather than indiscriminate slop. that would be a useful technical resource.modern manuals are two pages of useless material in 300 languages. sometimes they give you a business card with a qr code that leads to a dead link if given sufficient time. rotting manuals in an attic would probibly be an improvement now. i think were in what future historians will call a digital dark age.",
"parent_id": "8189879",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189851",
"author": "Chris Maple",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T03:36:23",
"content": "Single chip regulators capable of providing 1 A or more did not become available until years after 5V became the TTL standard.One of the tradeoffs in the design of the transistors used in TTL logic is the reverse biased breakdown base-emitter voltage of the input transistors. For fast transistors, that voltage was somewhere around 5.5 (?) volts, and exceeding that voltage could cause latchup and possibly chip failure.There was a type of bipolar logic that ran on 15 V, called High Threshold Logic (HTL). The wikipedia entry shows it as more like DTL than TTL. It was slow, so it had limited applications.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189885",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T05:05:19",
"content": "It makes many tasks exhausting. Who wants to be going along looking for information, then catch something completely wrong (often enough not even a “hallucination”, simply bad information) and spend an hour having to go over everything for similar issues.Who wants to argue with an LLM when you can just look at source information directly?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190457",
"author": "LordNothing",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T00:03:37",
"content": "so much this. ai seems like a complication to many an already complicated task.",
"parent_id": "8189885",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189942",
"author": "targetdrone",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T06:49:10",
"content": "It’s good to know the author was able to recognize the non-answer from an AI.It’s also a problem that if the AI’s answer had been only slightly more direct that he might have accepted it as fact.It’s even more concerning is that asking Google (or Bing or whatever) returns a list of pages that may or may not include AI-generated answers that aren’t identified as such.So no matter how we arrive at the answer initially, it’s important that we follow up with references, and not simply accept a page that seems “plausible”.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190007",
"author": "Colin Gary Smith",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T08:52:03",
"content": "My thoughts.. i am thinking 5 volts was good, as it was a nice way to get some solid headroom from a rectified filament winding transformer (of which there would have been MANY), through a basic BJT voltage regulator. Once that 6.3 vac went through either a full or half wave bridge rectifier, and its voltage drop, then into back then wouldn’t have been too large a filter capacitor, leaving a fairly messy DC”ish” rail, then through a basic zener regulated BJT series pass regulator, 5 volts seemed a nice round figure that worked out well.To me, i think it was a legacy of the valve era, and the huge amount of transformers that only had 1 high current winding, and that was the filament winding. This was before switch mode regs were ever invented, so it would have all been linear regulators. 6 volts would have been too high, with not enough headroom through a full wave bridge, and then the drop over the series pass transistor. 5.0 just “sounded” great.Boom, a de-facto standard.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190008",
"author": "Johnu",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T08:59:09",
"content": "I always assumed it was the lowest voltage that gave enough room for a couple of transistors stacked on top of each other to still work OK with enough headroom for a bit of noise immunity.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190022",
"author": "cr0bar",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T10:01:00",
"content": "They were just planning ahead for USB",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190033",
"author": "unochepassa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T10:43:09",
"content": "You win XD",
"parent_id": "8190022",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190073",
"author": "IanS",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T12:09:44",
"content": "“It also cited the development of the 7805 linear regulator in the late 1960s as a driver.”I think it was inverting cause and effect. I remember the arrival of the 7805 and TTL had been around for some time already.As an aside, it was during my gap year and some of the (older) engineers recalled having to design TTL logic using 7400 devices exclusively because other variants had been available. (For younger readers, all logic functions can be created using either NAND or NOR gates in combinations. A classic example was the Apollo Guidance Computer that used only NOR gates).",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190125",
"author": "Chip",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T13:27:19",
"content": "5v Filament transformers were readily available in the 60’s and they provided LOTS of current. Hams would sometimes leave a 5v filament transformer connected to their loop antenna when not in use to prevent ice build-up in the winter.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190162",
"author": "AbraKadabra",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T14:07:47",
"content": "Theories abound. Practice is governed by what you have in your junk drawer.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190169",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T14:11:42",
"content": "An LLM will return the most likely answer (most common), not the most correct answer, unless the answer is clearly labeled as “this is the correct answer”. Unfortunately, a lot of wrong answers are also labeled that way by people who are confidently wrong and so end up fouling the training pool.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190406",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T21:11:48",
"content": "Three cheers for all the data well poisoners!",
"parent_id": "8190169",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190235",
"author": "TerryMatthews",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T15:46:52",
"content": "5V is extremely useful and super not hard to hit lol. Now if you had been fussing about 3.3V I would have your back, but there are so many ways to get 5V for ttl. I would have also had your back blaming the transistors themselves and poor markings or zero nomenclature at all. But man I am 5V all day around here lol. I will tell you which voltage I loathe though is the -15V often found in vintage audio. That is the most annoying thing to deal with when the rest of your world is positive voltage generally. I still see it in some of the bigger gear and yes I totally understand the concept of its use, it is just annoying to fix if that is the rail with issues. It would be fun though to see HaD maybe revisit the TTL Cookbooks of yore for some nu skool inspiration :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190451",
"author": "LordNothing",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T23:48:33",
"content": "as speeds go up voltages tend to go down to minimize rise/fall times. i cant imagine that being much an issue in the early 5v era when they weren’t pushing so many theoretical limits. but it explains why logic high voltages have been creeping lower and lower ever since.",
"parent_id": "8190235",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190270",
"author": "ethzero",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T16:44:14",
"content": "I honestly stopped reading this article when I read the phrase, “I asked ChatGPT”.For all I know, the answer it gave could have been absolutely correct or all wildly off.I guess finding the source of an answer is the difference between a journalist and a blogger.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190570",
"author": "Maqs",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T05:28:08",
"content": "Article of zero value. The author says:–All of this seems like nonsense, the equivalent of saying, “Five volts became the standard because the standard was five volts.”–We call it the defacto standard. There’s no need to find an engineering reason for a defacto standard.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190812",
"author": "Emil",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T18:19:48",
"content": "5V was a practical measure to provide enough headroom for voltage drop across multiple transistor junctions. It became defacto standardized through the 74 series.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190850",
"author": "Sami Liedes",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T20:35:09",
"content": "I’m puzzled by the variance folks report with LLMs. I asked ChatGPT (single try) “Why is the TTL voltage 5 volts?” and got a physics-driven answer (stacked V_BE headroom + noise margin + fan-out + power) that, to me, is as good as I’ve seen in this discussion. It also mentioned 5 V having been common for tube heaters, and mentions 74xx and later designs of the period standardizing it for easy interfacing—no causality inversion there that I can see.Here’s the “in short” it volunteered at the end of the response:“TTL’s 5 V supply arose from the needs of silicon BJTs — a few diode drops, plus margin for noise and current drive — and stuck because it worked, matched existing power rails, and became industry standard before MOS logic took over.”Genuine question: what’s driving our “different realities” here—model/version drift, prompt framing (“engineering reason” vs “history”), sampling randomness, or evaluation bias?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191107",
"author": "Matthias",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T11:24:00",
"content": "maybe the userbase is divided into two groups (arbitrarily or by mined data, so the groups don’t interact too much on other channels), where one half is presented good, valid data and the other half is presented utter garbage, so the discussion between those two can later be mined for training data, or can be kept busy when things surface which are wished to go unnoticed by public (just present the unpleasant facts to the “garbage” group first, so the “valid” group won’t believe it)",
"parent_id": "8190850",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190886",
"author": "Bob klaus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T22:51:10",
"content": "Charles Kettering chose the 6.3 volt lead-acid rechargeable battery for the electric starter introduced on the 1913 Cadillac. Radios immediately switched over to 6 volt filament tubes to use the rechargeable battery, even while still using batteries for plate voltage. V8 engines required 12 volt starters and all cars became 12 volt in 1955. This produced a ready supply of cheap 6 volt rechargeable batteries, the staple in every EE circuits laboratory. 5 volts (and 10 volts) became the standard 100% of span for analog computers and process control from the 1930’s through ’60s, easily regulated down from 6.3 volts. So the regulated 5 volt supply became the standard Vcc for TTL logic.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190931",
"author": "tomf",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T00:27:39",
"content": "I took this question out another door. Early relay controlled industrial equipment used 120VAC or 1 leg of three phase 440VAC stepped down. 24 volts was adopted as a standard mostly for personal safety. The rational is somewhat circular like 5 VDC for TTL. 24VAC is common for doorbells and thermostats in the home environment. Heavy equipment and military vehicles use(d) 24VDC. Telco legacy is -48VDC. My answer is critical mass requires standardization.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191057",
"author": "AggregatVier",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T06:11:58",
"content": "Reverse engineering the Roswell crash found the common voltages used in electronic circuits were 3.3, 5, and 12 volts. So if it was good enough for an advanced alien civilization…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191161",
"author": "VK2YJS",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T15:12:21",
"content": "5 volts AC as the rectifier heater voltage is an industry standard, not unique to Fender. Also, it is separate from the 6.3 or 12.6 volt supplies as, the cathode in the high tension rectifier it is typically hundreds of volts above ground.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191408",
"author": "helge",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T05:55:20",
"content": "Allow me to add zero temperature coefficient of 5V-ish Zener diodes to this adjacent-but-not-causal-factoids comments section.This makes 5V a privileged, aesthetically superior voltage, especially for something that won’t care if it’s being run at 4.5 or 5.25 V save for minor speed changes.Anyway, following that argument, ICs should run on 4.0V. Quoting Wikipedia:“It is also worth noting that the temperature coefficient of a 4.7 V Zener diode is close to that of the emitter-base junction of a silicon transistor at around −2 mV/°C, so in a simple regulating circuit where the 4.7 V diode sets the voltage at the base of an NPN transistor (i.e. their coefficients are acting in parallel), the emitter will be at around 4 V and quite stable with temperature.”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191802",
"author": "DaveP",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T19:33:27",
"content": "This is how the lecturer explained it on my Uni course in 1971 or so:“If you look at the circuit of a TTL gate, the output circuit looks like an audio amplifier output stage with half of the components left out. The circuit uses Vbe drops in place of resistors for biassing, an arrangement which only works over an extremely narrow range of Vcc centred on 5V.”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,405.832322
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/08/a-minicomputer-tape-drive-receives-some-love/
|
A Minicomputer Tape Drive Receives Some Love
|
Jenny List
|
[
"Retrocomputing"
] |
[
"DEC",
"PDP-11/44",
"tape drive",
"TU-50"
] |
Taking on a refrigerator-sized minicomputer is not for the faint-hearted, but [Usagi Electric] has done it with a DEC PDP-11/44. He’s not doing it in half measures either, for his machine is tricked out with an impressive array of upgrades. Among them however is no storage, and with two co-processors there’s a meager 3U of rack space left. The plan is to fit a period 8″ hard drive in the space alongside a TU50 tape dive, and
it’s this final component that’s the subject of his latest video
.
DEC never did anything by halves, and a DECTape II cartridge is more than a simple container for tape reels. Instead it has a capstan of its own that engages with one in the drive, and an internal drive belt that moves the reels. All the rubber parts in both tapes and drive are thoroughly perished, and it’s impressive that he manages to find inexpensive modern polymer alternatives. The original drive is probably intended for a VAX system, thus it has the interesting feature of a second drive mechanism out of sight to hold a tape containing microcode.
Having reconditioned the drive, it goes in behind a custom front panel, and though there’s no useful data to test it with on the tapes he has, it appears all working. You can see it all in the video below the break, and if you’re interested further
we’ve covered this machine in the past
.
| 6
| 4
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8189478",
"author": "Joel Finkle",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T16:41:22",
"content": "The PDP-11/44 I programmed in the early 80s – part time job while in undergrad – had a TS-11, better known as the Tape Stretch 11. It was a traditional fridge-sized reel to reel on which we did backups.The setup we had was the TS-11 on the right, then the CPU and three removable pack hard drives, each with 26kwords (52kb) (maybe 52mb but I don’t think so). The OS sat on one drive, source data for one client on a second, results on a third. Running monthly reports involved multiple platter switching,",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189563",
"author": "Andy",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T18:09:37",
"content": "Fantastic video… always so engagingcheers!Andy",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190057",
"author": "rasz_pl",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T11:47:18",
"content": "In case anyone else is curious like I was – 1978 TU58 DECtape II:2 tracks.Capacity 256 KB per tape, 128KB per track. 2 x 1024 records x 128bytes per packet.PWM modulation. 0 is 1/3 duty cycle, 1 is 2/3.800 bits per inch, 2400 flux reversals per inch, tape speed 30 ips, 41.7 us bit duration. 24Kbits = 3KB/s raw data speed.After formatting and packetizing DEC promised real data transfer speed of 1280 Bytes/second.~10 second latency, thats how long it takes for tape loop to repeat at 60 ips fast forward scanning speed.Suffered reliability problems when first introduced.$562 in 1979, thats surprisingly cheap for a 512KB (its a dual tape box) of ~random access storage in seventies.Users: We want a floppy drive.Sir Clive Sinclair: We have floppy drive at home.Floppy drive at home: ZX Microdrive. ~$120 in 1985 delivering 85KB of storage at impressive 15KB/sec, but abuses tape stretching it over time until you lose all the data :-)Another try: Rotronics Wafadrive (for Spectrum/Timex) and its offshoots like C64 Quick Data Drive Model 8500 and TRS-80 Model 100 (and clones) A&J MicroDrive System-100. $250 in 1985. 10 ips so tapes are not abused, <2KB/s and latency around 1 minute with 128KB tape. Apparently still unreliable to the point TI dropped the idea of approving it for their Compact Computer 40.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190525",
"author": "BrightBlueJim",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T03:49:14",
"content": "Only, this is not a loop of tape. It is reel-to-reel. Seehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarter-inch_cartridge. The only loop is an elastic polymer band that wraps around both reels, and through the magic of stretching that band more on the side that’s pulling and less on the other side, it manages to tension the tape as it winds.",
"parent_id": "8190057",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190675",
"author": "rasz_pl",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T10:23:54",
"content": "Yes, I edited that loop bit in when excitedly adding Microdrive/Wafadrive info :(So DECtape II is a reused DC-100 from early seventies. Its fascinating the lengths those corporations went to just to save few bucks on mechanism cost versus ordinary Audio cassette transport. DEC even did standard (almost, no capstan/pinch rollers) Philips transport TU60 DECasette in 1972, but dropped it for this. As if saving $50 on a drive you are selling for $500-2000 would change anything.",
"parent_id": "8190525",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190518",
"author": "BrightBlueJim",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T03:29:35",
"content": "That cartridge pictured is the 3M QIC (Quarter Inch Cartridge) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarter-inch_cartridge) which was available in many sizes. It was introduced in 1972, and its magic was that the drive could be made very cheaply because there was a wheel that protruded from the front of the cartridge that engaged with a rubberized direct drive motor, and this roller pulled an elastic polymer band that wrapped around both spools of tape, which both moved the tape in either direction and managed to produce some tension in the process. Which was also its greatest weakness since the more friction there was in the system overall, the higher the tape tension would get. I used DC300XL cartridges on a Tektronix 4052 computer in the 1980s when it was popular for minicomputers, and around the turn of the century an even smaller size became popular for a short time for backing up PC hard drives. These were a slooow way of backing up a hard drive, and if you ever needed to restore a drive, there was a good chance that an hour into the restore, it would come across an uncorrectable error, and you had to start over. And if THAT didn’t work, that was the end of the line. So you had to always have at least three tapes, which you cycled through so that if the latest backup failed, you had at least two more tries, although these would have older data. Still better than nothing, but then the price of hard drives got low enough that it made more sense to back up to other hard drives. Sad to say, we don’t really have a good option these days, aside from copying onto newer and newer hard drives. And when they stop making hard drives, who knows what we’ll do – SSDs may one day get good enough for archival storage, but the current focus is on more data into smaller chips, without much concern for longevity.When I saw him put that green plastic band in there, I knew that he is heading for some heartbreak. That band needs to have quite a bit of tension in it to work properly, and his bands have some actual slack. So his real problem is not that these are VAX tapes, but that even once he figures out how to copy from the hard drive to the TU58, it’s still not going to work well. The good news though, is that these tapes generally don’t need to be formatted – when you write to them, they erase just ahead of the write head, so it’s like using a cassette tape.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,405.87261
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/08/reshaping-eyeballs-with-electricity-no-lasers-or-cutting-required/
|
Reshaping Eyeballs With Electricity, No Lasers Or Cutting Required
|
Lewin Day
|
[
"Featured",
"Interest",
"Medical Hacks",
"Original Art",
"Slider"
] |
[
"eye surgery",
"eyeball",
"eyes",
"lasik",
"research"
] |
Glasses are perhaps the most non-invasive method of vision correction, followed by contact lenses. Each have their drawbacks though, and some seek more permanent solutions in the form of laser eye surgeries like LASIK, aiming to reshape their corneas for better visual clarity. However, these methods often involve cutting into the eye itself, and it hardly gets any more invasive than that.
A new surgical method could have benefits in this regard, allowing correction in a single procedure that requires no lasers and no surgical cutting of the eye itself. The idea is to
use electricity to help reshape the eye back towards greater optical performance.
The Eyes Have It
Thus far, the research has worked with individual eyeballs. Great amounts of work remain before this is a viable treatment for eyes in living subjects. Credit:
research paper
Existing corrective eye surgeries most often aim to fix problems like long-sightedness, short-sightedness, and astigmatism. These issues are generally caused by the shape of the cornea, which works with the lens in the eye to focus light on to the light-sensitive cells in the retina. If the cornea is misshapen, it can be difficult for the eye to focus at close or long ranges, or it can cause visual artifacts in the field of view, depending on the precise nature of the geometry. Technologies like LASIK reshape the cornea for better performance using powerful lasers, but also involve cutting into the cornea. The procedure is thus highly invasive and has a certain recovery time, safety precautions that must be taken afterwards, and some potential side effects. A method for reshaping the eye without cutting into it would thus be ideal to avoid these problems.
Enter the technology of Electromechanical Reshaping (EMR). As per
a new paper
, researchers at the University of California, Irvine, came across the idea by accident, having been looking into the moldable nature of living tissues. As it turns out, collagen-based tissues like the cornea hold their structure thanks to the attractions between oppositely-charged subcomponents. These structures can be altered with the right techniques. For example, since these tissues are laden with water, applying electricity can change the pH through electrolyzation, altering the attraction between components of the tissue and making them pliable and reformable. Once the electric potential is taken away, the tissues can be restored to their original pH balance, and the structure will hold firm in its new form.
The untreated lens is visible in section A, and the new shape of the modified lens can be seen in section B. Graphs C and D show the change in radius and refractive power of the lens. Credit:
research paper
Researchers first tested this technique out on other tissues before looking to the eye. The team were able to use EMR to reshape ears from rabbits, while also being able to make physical changes to scar tissue in pigs. These efforts proved the basic mechanism worked, and that it could have applicability to the cornea itself.
To actually effectively reshape the cornea using this technique, a sort of mold was required. To that end, researchers created a “contact lens” type device out of platinum, which was formed in the desired final shape of the cornea. A rabbit eyeball was used in testing, doused in a saline solution to mimic the eye’s natural environment. The platinum device was pushed on to the eye, and used as an electrode to apply a small electrical potential across the eyeball. This was controlled carefully to precisely change the pH to the region where the eye became remoldable. After a minute, the cornea of the rabbit eyeball had conformed to the shape of the platinum lens. With the electrical potential removed, the pH of the eyeball was returned to normal and the cornea retained the new shape. The technique was trialled on twelve eyeballs, with ten of those treated for a shortsightedness condition, also known as myopia. In the case of the myopic eyeballs, all ten were successfully corrected the cornea, creating improved focusing power that would correspond to better vision in a living patient’s eye.
While the technique is promising, great development will be required before this is a viable method for vision correction in human patients. Researchers will need to figure out how to properly apply the techniques to eyeballs that are still in living patients, with much work to be done with animal studies prior to any attempts to translate the technique to humans. However, it could be that a decade or two in the future, glasses and LASIK will be increasingly less popular compared to a quick zap from the electrochemical eye remoulder. Time will tell.
| 33
| 9
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8189368",
"author": "CMH62",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T14:32:09",
"content": "Wow! Now THAT’S a hack! :-)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189400",
"author": "Tomtom",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T15:16:08",
"content": "I bet the eyewear industry won’t let this happen …. ;)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189645",
"author": "JustSayin",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T20:06:03",
"content": "yeah for sure. Look at how theyve successfully blocked laser corrective surgery for the last 26 years. /s",
"parent_id": "8189400",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189651",
"author": "flipperpi",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T20:12:59",
"content": "I’ve seen it too many times. A plucky entrepreneur discovers a way to bring a better product to the masses and ends up throwing themselves off of a balcony. Just another powerplay by the big LensCrafter mafia.",
"parent_id": "8189400",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190816",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T18:31:06",
"content": "Know what’s actually terrifying? Theinducedmyopia industry. This is a real thing that some people do to themselves on purpose, so there’s a market.",
"parent_id": "8189651",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190835",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T19:37:15",
"content": "Stop it or you’ll go blind.You should really stop once you need glasses.",
"parent_id": "8190816",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190814",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T18:28:53",
"content": "Hey now, there are people who would actually believe this.",
"parent_id": "8189400",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189428",
"author": "Chris Maple",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T15:51:14",
"content": "There is also orthokeratology, which consists of nothing but rigid gas-permeable contact lenses the back curvature of which reshapes the cornea. It’s not popular, but it’s been around for decades and offers a non-surgical option that lasts for a few days at a time.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189441",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T16:07:51",
"content": "Why!? Nature made them round for good reason!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189481",
"author": "Maave",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T16:43:24",
"content": "“round” haha. My friend with severe astigmatism would love this.",
"parent_id": "8189441",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189605",
"author": "Thisguy",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T18:59:20",
"content": "If only mine were properly round… they obviously didn’t get the message.",
"parent_id": "8189441",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190347",
"author": "Ell",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T18:49:24",
"content": "Uh, you know nature messes up right? That’s why some of us wear glasses… obviously you wouldn’t do this for fun on a normally functioning eyeball.",
"parent_id": "8189441",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190819",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T18:34:50",
"content": "Take a few minutes, read up on eye anatomy and common problems. We’ll wait.",
"parent_id": "8189441",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189476",
"author": "echodelta",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T16:39:37",
"content": "Definitely a good start. I’d like to see more study on how myopia forms. Some studies show dimness of light indoors, not enough bright light in childhood. Window shades in the car etc, sunglasses on toddlers. The “pain” of bright light is the muscles of the eye keeping it in shape.There’s hope for flop-eared rabbits to get their ears up, maybe better VHF antennae too.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189520",
"author": "jenningsthecat",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T17:28:27",
"content": "I was myopic by the age of 12, and my eyes were exposed to plenty of light all year. I spent a lot of time outside, and sunglasses were the exception rather than the rule. Neither my parents nor my sister had myopia.That’s not to say that lack of light can’t contribute to myopia – but it surely isn’t the only cause. Besides, UV light is known to increase the likelihood of cataracts. Given a choice, I’d pick myopia over cataracts. Sadly, I’m stuck with both.",
"parent_id": "8189476",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190080",
"author": "alexandre",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T12:18:04",
"content": "myopia is so much growing… athropin is a start for children",
"parent_id": "8189476",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190829",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T19:15:04",
"content": "No, not medication at least. If you want children to have better eyesight get them outside in complex engaging environments. Go to parks, get them climbing trees. There primary cause of myopia increases is a lack of exercise. Get them to identify constellations and clouds, in addition to animals like birds.This should make sense, given there is a growing lack of exercise as it is, and that is causing a similar rise in twisted heath problems.Humans got a long way by walking, chasing prey, and making tools. Now, for less than a dozen generations suddenly nearly everyone is sedentary most of the time.Do not look to medication to fix everything.",
"parent_id": "8190080",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190827",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T19:07:49",
"content": "Ok, no. The pain of bright light isnotmuscles of the eye at all, where did you hear this? I may be overreacting but this sounds like you think myopia is entirely environmental, it’s not. While thatcanhappen, it’s rare. Humans don’t have perfect vision on average, neither do other animals. It’s a balance your body looses at as you age, and puberty causes more changes to vision than anything else in childhood short of permanent damage.The idea that window shades in cars and sunglasses are hurting vision is wrong and downright abusive if you follow through. Toddler’s eye pigmentation isn’t as dense as it is for adults, protecting them from bright light is a good thing. This goes doubly for light colours which block less effectively.You know what actually helps? Lots of variation in near and far distance and detail. This is why being outside is good. Having good lighting decreases eye strain, too much increases it. Entire families can be more or less light sensitive than others.Do not spread medical misinformation.",
"parent_id": "8189476",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189521",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T17:28:56",
"content": "Yup, now all they have to tackle is cataracts.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189604",
"author": "a_do_z",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T18:57:51",
"content": "Soon, please.",
"parent_id": "8189521",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189813",
"author": "Chris Maple",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T02:00:58",
"content": "There is research supporting the use of n-acetyl-l-carnosine eyedrops to prevent, halt the progression of, and in some cases partially reverse cataracts. My impression is that it works, but I don’t have any numbers to back up my impression.",
"parent_id": "8189521",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189875",
"author": "davidateeyore",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T04:46:08",
"content": "They drill a little hole into the side of your eyeball to the lens sac, emulsify (ultrasonically) the existing cataracted lens, then use a very small vacuum cleaner to suck out the remnants. a replacement lens (plastic) is inserted through a cannula into the lens sac and unrolled into place. I had both eyes done over a 6 week period about 20 years ago. The technology has probably improved since then.PS: only the eyes are aneasthetised – you’re mainly awake for the half hour op!",
"parent_id": "8189521",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189994",
"author": "Bo-Erik Sandholm",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T08:22:21",
"content": "I did this on both eyes 3 years ago.I now have sight of an eagle :-)My multiangle astigmatism was reduced to just one angle, but due to some restictions my near sightness is reduced from -5.2 and -4.5 to -2 on both eyes.And by luck i live in sweden, the total cost to me was around 50 usd + new glasses with less correction.",
"parent_id": "8189875",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190046",
"author": "mcenderdragon",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T11:38:34",
"content": "Dang thats amazing resulsts.",
"parent_id": "8189994",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190009",
"author": "Johnu",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T09:03:54",
"content": "My elderly relatives have had theirs done by the NHS, these days you’re in & out in a morning with minimal recovery time.It would be nice not to need it but it feels like it’s a fairly well solved problem now.",
"parent_id": "8189521",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190016",
"author": "Stephen",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T09:25:35",
"content": "My late father had this done. He doesn’t seem to have minded it at all, but when you’re in close contact with someone and they have bloody stitches IN THEIR EYEBALL it’s a bit unsettling!",
"parent_id": "8190009",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190830",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T19:17:47",
"content": "Cataracts are being addressed pretty well. Tackling thecausesis a current issue. Glaucoma treatments are largely hacks at the moment, and that pressure damages everything.",
"parent_id": "8189521",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189639",
"author": "Aleks Clark",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T19:53:33",
"content": "great development will be required before this is a viable method for vision correction in human patients. Researchers will need to figure out how to properly apply the techniques to eyeballs that are still in living patients, with much work to be done with animal studies prior to any attempts to translate the technique to humans.please, let’s call this what it is – insane-o over-regulation. I’d happily let them try this on one of my eyeballs for a few hundred bucks if I wasn’t the first human. If I was the first….ok maybe $50k…less if they’d done it, and reversed it, on some monkeys. Because we’ve let the state be in charge of parenting us, it’ll now be years of work and money and paperwork, and then we’ll end up paying for all that excessive caution one way or another.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189682",
"author": "Maave",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T20:58:33",
"content": "they’ve neither tested on live animals nor developed a way to reverse it. So I hope the hypochlorite doesn’t fry your eyeballs.",
"parent_id": "8189639",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189944",
"author": "Abrifq",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T06:51:54",
"content": "Researchers will need to figure out how to properly apply the techniques to eyeballs that are still in living patients, with much work to be done with animal studies prior to any attempts to translate the technique to humans.please, let’s call this what it is – insane-o over-regulation. I’d happily let them try this on one of my eyeballs for a few hundred bucks if I wasn’t the first human. If I was the first….ok maybe $50k…less if they’d done it, and reversed it, on some monkeys.And that’s exactly why they are testing on living animals, because if they do so, there will be less risks.Or you know, they could make you sign a waiver so you can’t sue them if they damage you no matter how bad the damage is. Over corruption and over regulating are yins and yangs of this process.Assuming the electroplate will be malleable, it shouldn’t cost as much as you think, even with the recoup of the spendings.ZAP!",
"parent_id": "8189639",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190010",
"author": "Johnu",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T09:06:14",
"content": "Those regulations are written in blood, trauma, life-changing injury, birth defects, etc…For everyone moaning about over-regulation there is someone decrying Big Pharma and their crimes.",
"parent_id": "8189639",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189949",
"author": "Octoyou",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T06:59:49",
"content": "My wife and I had LASIK like 7-8 years ago, top 3 best spend money ever! It is such a huge quality of life improvement. The operation itself was about 15 minutes and not painful, but a little scary. The recovery afterwards can be long and annoying, I had dry eyes for months.This is a loooong way from being used on humans, but a very interesting approach. Let’s see, if it is viable on living eyes and if it really improves recovery etc compared to existing methods.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191310",
"author": "Jose",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T22:39:06",
"content": "what a shocking new insight…..",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,405.966506
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/08/homebrew-dam-control-system-includes-all-the-bells-and-whistles/
|
Homebrew Dam Control System Includes All The Bells And Whistles
|
John Elliot V
|
[
"green hacks",
"Microcontrollers"
] |
[
"Dam Control System",
"hydropower",
"Nucleo-H753",
"STM32H753ZI"
] |
Over on brushless.zone, we’ve come across an interesting write-up that
details the construction of a dam control system
. This is actually the second part, in the first, we learn that some friends
purchased an old dysfunctional 80 kW dam
with the intention of restoring it. One friend was in charge of the business paperwork, one friend the mechanical side of things, and the other was responsible for the electronics — you can probably guess which ones we’re interested in.
The site controller is built around a
Nucleo-H753
featuring the
STM32H753ZI
microcontroller, which was selected due to it being the largest single-core version of the dev board available. This site controller board features a dozen output light switches, sixteen front-panel button inputs, dual 24 V PSU inputs, multiple non-isolated analog inputs, atmospheric pressure and temperature sensors, multiple analog multiplexers, a pair of SSD1309 OLED screens, and an ESP32 for internet connectivity. There’s also fiber optic TX and RX for talking to the valve controller, a trio of isolated hall-effect current sensors for measuring the generator phase current, through current transformers, four contactor outputs (a contactor is a high-current relay), a line voltage ADC, and the cherry on top — an electronic buzzer.
The valve controller has: 48 V input from either the PSU or battery, motor phase output, motor field drive output, 8 kV rated isolation relay, limit switch input, the other side of the optical fiber TX and RX for talking to the site controller board, and connectors for various purposes.
If you’re interested in seeing this dam control system being tested, checkout the video embedded below.
| 25
| 5
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8189304",
"author": "Glossary",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T11:28:36",
"content": "What doe DAM stand for?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189574",
"author": "John Elliot V",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T18:22:12",
"content": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dam",
"parent_id": "8189304",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189600",
"author": "fiddlingjunky",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T18:52:38",
"content": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dam_(disambiguation)",
"parent_id": "8189574",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189575",
"author": "asheets",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T18:22:20",
"content": "It is a damn dam! (snerk)",
"parent_id": "8189304",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189599",
"author": "fiddlingjunky",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T18:52:03",
"content": "That threw me for a loop, too. Took me a solid 15 seconds to latch onto hydroelectric.Very cool project. Read both guys’ blogs on it.",
"parent_id": "8189304",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189677",
"author": "Hugo Oran",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T20:47:39",
"content": "First reading the title I thought about Direct Access Memory:)",
"parent_id": "8189599",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189717",
"author": "bebop",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T21:56:48",
"content": "Direct Memory Access though",
"parent_id": "8189677",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189316",
"author": "the Amazing E",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T11:56:58",
"content": "What a project! I’m torn between how much fun I would have doing this and how much of a money pit this would end up.And it has a choice between text and video for the antivideo among us.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189614",
"author": "Ian",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T19:13:33",
"content": "I do certainly enjoy a well edited longform video on a subject, but having it be an option in addition to a well written project log or explanation is the ideal.",
"parent_id": "8189316",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189347",
"author": "Jelle",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T13:15:32",
"content": "Nice.be aware though that small dams like these (or any dam) are not considered so environmentally friendly as they used to be: It is a steep barrier for fish to scale. From the pictures from the overflow it looks that might be doable, but please install some kind of fish ladder if possible.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189468",
"author": "DainBramage",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T16:30:53",
"content": "Absolutely. I’d hate to see another 1000 hectare lake that supports many hundreds of thousands of fish of dozens of different species drained and destroyed by environmentalists so that 10 or 12 individuals of a single species per day can transit through the muddy stream left behind. Not to mention the loss of a clean, nearly limitless source of power.",
"parent_id": "8189347",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189594",
"author": "Matthias",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T18:46:51",
"content": "… and the individuals now passing the dam site eat the breed of the species which found a refuge in the area somewhat protected from the predators by the dam, and the trees on the shore now struck with much faster stream and lower and varying ground water levels die and get replaced by more common species growing everywhere…While smaller weirs may not be as much of a barrier as they seem on first sight, from the pictures of this dam I would consider a careful observation of the biotopes above and below before installing an uncontrolled gateway between these two.",
"parent_id": "8189468",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189686",
"author": "inam",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T21:03:39",
"content": "Well. Beavers to that same job for free, cost nothing, and build a way more rich ecosystem than a simple basin.",
"parent_id": "8189468",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190807",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T18:08:19",
"content": "I also love beaver and would like to subscribe to your newsletter!",
"parent_id": "8189686",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189625",
"author": "dremu",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T19:34:40",
"content": "Are fish escalators an option?",
"parent_id": "8189347",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189693",
"author": "Andrew",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T21:12:35",
"content": "They’re better than bicycles.",
"parent_id": "8189625",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189830",
"author": "dremu",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T02:25:48",
"content": "Or, HAD recently, a dammed fish on a dicycle.I think I just hurt myownbrain.",
"parent_id": "8189693",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189728",
"author": "Thinkerer",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T22:09:15",
"content": "Yes, sort of – there are “elevators” for them.https://www.hged.com/community-environment/barrett-fishway/default.aspxAlso the “Tesla valve” variants are really cool to watch.https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fo1glwznkeumd1.jpeg",
"parent_id": "8189625",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189831",
"author": "dremu",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T02:26:28",
"content": "That is cool. Odd — how smart are fish? I guess they’re just driven — but cool!",
"parent_id": "8189728",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189894",
"author": "DionB",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T05:22:38",
"content": "They seem to head towards fast running water (i.e rapids) and hop from rock to rock, resting in the eddys behind rocks. Looks like an efficient way to climb elevation changes in rivers. We have a cool fish ladder in our town where there’s a big weir/low head dam as part of a diverter to a hydro plant. it’s just a side channel with big rocks in it and enough water moving through it to make it appealing for the fish. Looking down on it from a conveniently placed bridge, you can see fish heading straight forward it rather than heading up to the much larger span of weir/low head dam.",
"parent_id": "8189831",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189817",
"author": "pelrun",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T02:09:51",
"content": "This dam is 160 years old. While new dams should definitely be employing modern environmental impact mitigation, the area here has long since adapted and any blind changes may actually have negative consequences.",
"parent_id": "8189347",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190810",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T18:17:26",
"content": "A 160 year old dam reservoir is almost certainly silted up.Which would explain it being abandoned.Bet it’s ‘pool’ resembles a swampy field.The real killer will be the physical turbine, silty water is even more erosive.Bet the buckets look like surface of moon.Plus only run of river makes it must run, so power much less valuable.Not that the power company will be excited about .08 Mw.",
"parent_id": "8189817",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189634",
"author": "solipso",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T19:46:34",
"content": "I do not like the monolithic PCB. One major *uckup and you are left with a plethora of bodge components or PCB patches and a jungle of wires because of no time/$$ to re-spin the board. Also any major upgrade would not be easy or even feasible. And the H753 is bugged af and using it in any mission-critical scenario without an moderately sophisticated micro-based watchdog is what we call here a call to devil for help.Nevertheless, good luck with such a endeavor!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190450",
"author": "hunter47",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T23:41:23",
"content": "I’m glad you said this.While this is a cool project, the mission success criticality of this project should’ve necessitated a PLC. The AutomationDirect Click Plus line would’ve been a great budget choice, or if you were feeling fancy a Beckhoff CX system. Hell, probably could’ve gotten away with a Raspberry Pi running Codesys and a couple of etherCAT modules would’ve probably also done the trick.",
"parent_id": "8189634",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189684",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T21:01:30",
"content": "Take all the dam pictures you want!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,406.04559
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/08/building-the-dvd-logo-screensaver-with-lego/
|
Building The DVD Logo Screensaver With LEGO
|
Maya Posch
|
[
"Toy Hacks"
] |
[
"dvd",
"lego"
] |
The completed Lego DVD screensaver. (Credit: Grant Davis, YouTube)
There’s something extremely calming and pleasing about watching a screensaver that merely bounces some kind of image around, with the DVD logo screensaver of a DVD player being a good example. The logical conclusion is thus that it would be great to
replicate this screensaver in Lego
, because it’d be fun and easy. That’s where [Grant Davis]’s life got flipped upside-down, as this turned out to be anything but an easy task in his chosen medium.
Things got off on a rocky start with figuring out how to make the logo bounce against the side of the ‘screen’, instead of having it merely approach before backing off. The right approach here seemed to be Lego treads as used on e.g. excavators, which give the motion that nice pause before ‘bouncing’ back in the other direction.
With that seemingly solved, most of the effort went into assembling a functional yet sturdy frame, all driven by a single Lego Technic electromotor. Along the way there were many cases of rapid self-disassembly, ultimately leading to a complete redesign using worm gears, thus requiring running the gears both ways with help from a gearbox.
Since the screensaver is supposed to run unattended, many end-stop and toggle mechanisms were tried and discarded before settling on the design that would be used for the full-sized build. Naturally, scaling up always goes smoothly, so everything got redesigned and beefed up once again, with more motors added and multiple gearbox design changes attempted after some unfortunate shredded gears.
Ultimately [Grant] got what he set out to do: the DVD logo bouncing around on a Lego ‘TV’ in a very realistic fashion, set to the noise of Lego Technic gears and motors whirring away in the background.
Thanks to [Carl Foxmarten] for the tip.
| 9
| 7
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8189197",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T08:08:18",
"content": "Reminds me a little bit of the Amiga demo with the bouncing ball.Example:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyNr3yaUQA8And I’m not an Amiga fan, even.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189199",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T08:11:42",
"content": "Also fitting (a DVD logo parody):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOtuX0jL85Y",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189340",
"author": "MGD",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T12:49:21",
"content": "Wholesome partner action in this. Laughing when it fails at the start, cheering him on and celebrating at the end. Here for all of it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189435",
"author": "dudefromthenorth",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T16:00:31",
"content": ":)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189470",
"author": "m1ke",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T16:34:58",
"content": "The final result was quite polished!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189488",
"author": "TerryMatthews",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T16:51:59",
"content": "Whimsical and full of hidden challenges :) Perfect project :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189740",
"author": "robopilot99",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T22:57:52",
"content": "Does anybody know why the bouncing DVD logo is such a persistent meme? Why is it that so many different models of DVD player had this same behavior to the point that people still recognize it, long after the DVD format itself has become obsolete?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189967",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T07:28:01",
"content": "long after the DVD format itself has become obsolete?Has it? Blu Ray and DVD with movies/TV series are still being produced.And DVD has the advantage of being good for SD material that has no HD/UHD source to begin with.Without DVD being available as a second choice, ugly upscaled BD releases would be the outcome.Also, closed captions (not subtitles) may not work on HD/UHD monitors.That’s because the data is sent over analog connection and then the TV handles it.A bit like how analog videotext had worked.And since both DVDs and DVD players are meant to support ordinary RF/Composite/S-Video or RGB connections,chances are higher everything works as intended.",
"parent_id": "8189740",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190178",
"author": "Nath",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T14:18:00",
"content": "I’d say ghosting was a thing back then and the DVD consortium might have release some sourcecode for this screensaver to many ODM/OEM of DVD players back then. This would be a nice topic for some digital archaelogy nerd on YT",
"parent_id": "8189740",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
}
] | 1,760,371,406.093687
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/07/mesmerizing-patterns-from-simple-rules/
|
Mesmerizing Patterns From Simple Rules
|
Ian Bos
|
[
"Science"
] |
[
"Agent",
"background",
"bio-inspired"
] |
Nature is known for its intense beauty from its patterns and bright colors; however, this requires going outside. Who has time for that insanity!?!? [Bleuje] provides the perfect solution with his mesmerizing display of
particle behavior.
Agents follow defined paths created by other agents.
These patterns of color and structure, based on
36 points
, are formed from simple particles, also called agents. Each agent leaves behind a trail that adds to the pattern formation. Additionally, these trails act almost as pheromone trails, attracting other particles. This dispersion and attraction to trails create the feedback loops similar to those found in ant herd behavior or slime mold.
Complex patterns created by the algorithm can resemble many different biological formations including slime mold.
Of course, none of this behavior would be very fun to mess with if you couldn’t change the parameters on the fly. This is one main feature of [Bleuje]’s implementation of the 36 points’ ideas. Being able to change settings quickly and interact with the environment itself allows for touching natural feeling patterns without exiting your house!
If you want to try out the simulation yourself, make sure to check out [Bleuje]’s
GitHub repository
of the project! While getting out of the house can be difficult, sometimes it’s good for you to see real natural patterns. For a great example of this hard work leading to great discoveries, look to this bio-inspired way of
protecting boat hauls
!
Thanks Adrian for the tip!
| 7
| 4
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8189161",
"author": "CRJEEA",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T06:59:57",
"content": "Great article, the only thing I might have added,youtube.com/watch?v=4hLtjlaVzsk",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189629",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T19:37:46",
"content": "Yep the video demo of it in action is really spectacular, should be right at the top",
"parent_id": "8189161",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189960",
"author": "CRJEEA",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T07:19:24",
"content": "Although not quite the same, this video might be of interest to some, even for the logical approach of how one night go about coding something like this from scratch.youtube.com/watch?v=VyXxSNcgDtg",
"parent_id": "8189629",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189171",
"author": "iliis",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T07:18:41",
"content": "Wow, this is amazingly beautiful! Thank you for sharing. I gotta try implementing it myself.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189254",
"author": "Gravis",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T09:44:21",
"content": "Arg! My trypophobia!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189729",
"author": "Thinkerer",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T22:14:18",
"content": "https://www.sagejenson.com/36points/If you have phobias of various sorts, you may not like some of these",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190028",
"author": "frenchone",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T10:26:35",
"content": "or you can try to desensitize. Start with one hole. Then two. Then add more and more",
"parent_id": "8189729",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
}
] | 1,760,371,406.143561
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/06/know-audio-distortion-part-two/
|
Know Audio: Distortion Part Two
|
Jenny List
|
[
"digital audio hacks",
"Hackaday Columns",
"home entertainment hacks"
] |
[
"audio",
"audio analyser",
"distortion",
"know audio",
"THD"
] |
It’s been a while since the last installment in our
Know Audio
series, in which
we investigated distortion as it applies to Hi-Fi audio
. Now it’s time to return with part two of our look at distortion, and attempt some real-world distortion measurements on the bench.
Last time, we examined distortion from a theoretical perspective, as the introduction of unwanted harmonics as a result of non-linearities in the signal path. Sometimes that’s a desired result, as with a guitar pedal, but in a Hi-Fi system where the intention is to reproduce as faithfully as possible a piece of music from a recording, the aim is to make any signal path components as linear as possible. When we measure the distortion, usually expressed as THD, for Total Harmonic Distortion, of a piece of equipment we are measuring the ratio of those unwanted harmonics in the output to the frequencies we want, and the resulting figure is commonly expressed in dB, or as a percentage.
The Cheapest Of Audio Kits, Analysed
The Hackaday audio test bench in all its glory.
Having explained what we are trying to do, it’s on to the device in question and the instruments required. On the bench in front of me I have my tube headphone amplifier project, a
Chinese 6J1 preamp kit
modified with transformers on its output for impedance matching.
I’ve investigated the unmodified version of this kit here in the past
, and measured a THD of 0.03% when it’s not driven into distortion, quite an acceptable figure.
To measure the distortion I’m using my audio signal generator, a Levell TG200DMP that I was lucky enough to obtain through a friend. It’s not the youngest of devices, but it’s generally reckoned to be a pretty low distortion oscillator. It’s set to 1 KHz and a 1 V peak-to-peak line level audio output, which feeds the headphone amplifier input. The output from the amplifier is feeding a set of headphones, and my trusty HP334A distortion analyser is monitoring the result.
How Does A Distortion Analyser Work Then?
The business end of my trusty HP.
A distortion analyser is two instruments in one, a sensitive audio level meter, and an extremely high quality notch filter. In an instrument as old as this one everything is analogue, while in a modern audio analyser everything including the signal source is computer controlled.
The idea is that the analyser is first calibrated against the incoming audio using the voltmeter, and then the filter is switched into the circuit. The filter is then adjusted to reject the fundamental frequency, in this case 1 kHz, leaving behind only the harmonic distortion. The audio level meter can then be used to read the distortion. If you’re interested in how these work in greater detail I made one a few years ago in GNU Radio for
an April Fool post about gold cables
.
Using the HP offers an experience that’s all too rare in 2025, that of tuning an analogue circuit. It settles down over time, so when you first tune it for minimum 1kHz level it will retune to a lower level after a while. So mine has been running but idle for the last few hours, in order to reach maximum stability. I’m measuring 0.2% THD for the headphone amplifier, which is entirely expected given that the transformers it uses are not of high quality at all.
An Instrument Too Expensive For A Hackaday Expense Claim
An Audio Precision APx525 audio analyzer. Bradp723 (
CC-BY-SA 3.0
)
It’s important to state that I’ve measured the THD at only one frequency, namely 1 kHz. This is the frequency at which most THD figures are measured, so it’s an easy comparison, but a high-end audio lab will demand measurements across a range of frequencies. That’s entirely possible with the Levell and the HP, but it becomes a tedious manual process of repetitive calibration and measurement.
As you might expect, a modern audio analyser has all these steps computerised, having in place of the oscillator and meter a super-high-quality DAC and ADC, and instead of the 334A’s filter tuning dial, a computer controlled switched filter array. Unsurprisingly these instruments can be eye-wateringly expensive.
So there in a nutshell is a basic set-up to measure audio distortion. It’s extremely out of date, but in its simplicity I hope you find an understanding of the topic. Keep an eye out for a 334A and snap it up if you see one for not a lot. I did, and it’s by far the most beautifully-made piece of test equipment I own.
| 16
| 7
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8188340",
"author": "Joe D",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T18:13:25",
"content": "For work, I procured a QuantAsylum QA403 audio analyzer. 0.001% THD at 1kHz for $600 does everything I need instead of that $25k AP.Note: I have no financial ties to QA.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188375",
"author": "Largol",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T19:16:45",
"content": "Thank you :) I always thought Audio Precision were all alone on that kind of measurements !!!",
"parent_id": "8188340",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188394",
"author": "paulvdh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T20:36:01",
"content": "Any good quality sound card can be used as a distortion analyzer. But you do need a good quality one, because else it would just be measuring it’s own distortion. If your gadget had different signal levels, you may need an extra amplifier and/or attenuator to get the signal into the range of the sound card.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188408",
"author": "KW",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T21:09:32",
"content": "I sense another rabbit hole for me to explore is inevitable, thanks to this.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188492",
"author": "NFM",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T03:42:37",
"content": "The HP 8903B is also a good audio analyzer that can be had for a reasonable price if one is patient.It is computer controllable via GPIB, and there are apps available online for it that allow you to run sweeps etc in a mostly automated fashion. (Do a search for Pete Millett’s website).I have both the 334A and 8903B and they both work well. I mostly use the 334A for tuning up function generators and the 8903B for audio work.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188730",
"author": "jenningsthecat",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T14:05:22",
"content": "FWIW, when it comes to audio THD is a very flawed metric. It treats all unwanted harmonics – low-order, high-order, even-order, and odd-order – as equally objectionable, by giving them the same weight in the calcs. For more background I recommend just about anything on Lynn Olson’s website. Here’s a good place to start:http://www.nutshellhifi.com/triode4.htmlThis is in spite of the fact that odd-order and higher-order harmonics have been known to be more audible and more objectionable for more than 60 years. Noted BBC engineer D.E.L Shorter, and noted amplifier designer Norman Crowhurst, both advocated for weighting harmonics by the square, or even the CUBE, of the harmonic order when calculating THD.Interestingly, harmonic spectrum is one reason that (some) tube amps sound better than solid state ones. In particular, (good) single-ended triode designs may have fairly high second harmonic content, and lower but still high third harmonic content. Their THD figure may be ten or more times that of a solid-state amp, but they may sound better. And I don’t mean just “warmer” or “tubier” – I mean more natural, more relaxing, and more true-to-life.At least as far as lower-level amps go, some of the newest and best solid-state op-amps have such vanishingly low THD specs that they’re probably at least as good as a quality single-ended discrete-component preamp. Beyond that, if you’re looking for the very best sound, don’t blindly assume that you can get it via semiconductors alone. The relationship among THD, IM, and TIM distortions is incredibly complex. And that’s even before you take a close look at the interactions between amp and transducer, and between transducer and room.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188788",
"author": "OsoGrande",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T16:18:48",
"content": "Great post. Thanks.",
"parent_id": "8188730",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192014",
"author": "Garth Wilson",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T02:57:17",
"content": "Note that harmonic distortion of any kind will also result in intermodulation distortion, producing frequencies that were not in the original program material, and which do not go nicely with it. Harmonic distortion on a single frequency will give products that musically make sense; but when two or more notes go into it, now there will be distortion products that do not fit into the chords and scales pleasantly.",
"parent_id": "8188730",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188795",
"author": "Ed Woodrick",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T16:34:20",
"content": "A major audio manufacturer made an audio amplifier many years ago that had exceptional specifications, essentially flat across the spectrum.It was introduced to the market with terrible reviews. It sounded like crap.How could this be, the manufacturer wondered. Some research into the matter yielded a simple result.Linear amplifiers don’t match the dynamics of the ear. The lousy tube amplifiers that sounded so good had terrible specs, rolling off significantly over a few thousand hertz.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188839",
"author": "Jenny List",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T17:48:41",
"content": "That’s a bit of a myth.And yes, I have taken the measurements on very high end kit to back that statement up.",
"parent_id": "8188795",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188893",
"author": "Chris Maple",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:28:22",
"content": "Some people accustomed to poor quality sound equipment find the sensation of accurate high frequency response irritating. Violins in particular can seem scratchy to someone unfamiliar with good equipment or live performances.",
"parent_id": "8188795",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188901",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:40:26",
"content": "It’s not just violins.Accordions, bagpipes and EDM can also sound ‘off’ to people not used to musical torture.There are some who just don’t like the sound of a war pipe ensemble in a small room.No accounting for taste.",
"parent_id": "8188893",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188850",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T18:21:21",
"content": "Every speaker ever made will have an order of magnitude more distortion than any other component in the signal path.Non-electrostatic speakers will have multiple orders of magnitude more distortion.Then you should consider the space.Chasing decimals on amplifiers first is misspent energy and money.Especially as THD is widely bullshitted.THD at what volume level?There was a brand (who’s name I won’t mention so as not to enrage a vintage gear enthusiast) that measured THD at -40Db below rated power.The ‘replaced all the caps’ people still cite that BS and will pay lots of money for one, despite it being a bog standard IC amp of the day.Start w reasonable cost components.Spend first on speakers, then adjust room and walls as much as possible.If your doing the vintage amp thing, judge old amps byweight, but don’t.Dolby Pro surround is a bigger improvement than any audiophile stereo amp.Avoid Matsushita brands, all crap.Look funny at the twits arguing about Akai vs Pioneer tape decks…Like Audi vs VW vs Porsche…Same crap under skin…Just different price for same part.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188920",
"author": "Chris Maple",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T20:14:21",
"content": "There are design mistakes and aging related to capacitors in hifi equipment that can be fixed by replacing capacitors. High-k ceramic capacitors in the signal path can cause measurable and audible distortion, and should be replaced with plastic dielectric caps. Electrolytic capacitors in the signal path can also be a problem, but replacing them with new electrolytics or other types of capacitors can lead to many complications. (For instance, many electrolytics have high ESR, and replacing them with plastic capacitors in a loudspeaker crossover can boost high frequency response by about 1 dB.)Although speakers are generally the high distortion element in a system, that’s not always the case in use. Quality speakers designed to accept 200 W are not going to produce much distortion when fed 1 W. Most speaker distortion usually occurs in trying to produce deep bass, due to cheaping out on the construction of woofers; good design or not playing music with low notes results in lower distortion. Some class D amplifiers are not clean at low power levels or high frequencies.Matsushita (Panasonic) includes Technics. I don’t know what they’re doing today, but 40 years ago they were building very good stuff.Surround sound is a gimmick. Sometimes it produces impressive results, but not always.",
"parent_id": "8188850",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188930",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T20:33:01",
"content": "As bad a metric as THD is, good speakers report THD in the 1-2% range.Electrostatics are much better, but cost as much as a house, are huge and won’t fix the room.It’s not just clipping, speakers will distort most at low volumes too.Everything is complicated, crossovers, enclosures, ports.You need a good microphone to measure a speaker, but it’s not theory.Have fun with Technics…waste of effort IMHO.Same as all Matsushita brands, just different labels, same factory.Harmon Kardon made good amps at not too insane prices.Surround sound is about the production quality, but even in 5 channel stereo mode the room will sound better.Stereo is also a ‘gimmick’.",
"parent_id": "8188920",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191950",
"author": "Garth Wilson",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T01:12:29",
"content": "This is the third time I’m trying to post this, after the first two times apparently going into the bit bucket. I wonder what’s going on. Fortunately I kept a copy, so I don’t have to re-type it.Thank you for pointing that out. I was at a Brüel & Kjaer seminar years ago where the presenter demonstrated all kinds of things that skewered the sacred cows of the “golden ears” people. One thing he demonstrated was two speakers that both had 5% distortion, but one had a coil rub and the other was in good condition, and one speaker sounded good and the other one sounded absolutely horrible, both at 5%. In the days of tape recorders, the level a type of tape could handle, expressed in nanowebbers, was, IIRC, the level where the distortion was 3% when you adjust the bias by finding where the output peaked, and then continue increasing the bias until the output dropped by 3dB. (I worked constantly with tape recorders at TEAC, and have time in professional recording studios too, but that was over 40 years ago, so I might need a little review.) Anyway, yes, “Chasing decimals on amplifiers first is misspent energy and money” is true, and I remember thinking the same thing when I’d see ads in the magazines for amplifiers with .005% distortion or less.",
"parent_id": "8188850",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
}
] | 1,760,371,406.205881
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/06/weaving-circuits-from-electronic-threads/
|
Weaving Circuits From Electronic Threads
|
Aaron Beckendorf
|
[
"Wearable Hacks"
] |
[
"e-textile",
"e-textiles",
"fiber",
"flexible circuit board",
"flexible circuits",
"knitting",
"stm32",
"stm32duino",
"thread",
"wearable",
"weaving"
] |
Though threading is a old concept in computer science, and fabric computing has been a term for about thirty years, the terminology has so far been more metaphorical than strictly descriptive. [Cedric Honnet]’s
FiberCircuits project
, on the other hand, takes a much more literal to weaving technology “into the fabric of everyday life,” to borrow the phrase from [Mark Weiser]’s
vision of computing
which inspired this project. [Cedric] realized that some microcontrollers are small enough to fit into fibers no thicker than a strand of yarn, and used them to design these open-source threads of electronics (
open-access paper
).
The physical design of the FiberCircuits was inspired by LED filaments: a flexible PCB wrapped in a protective silicone coating, optionally with a protective layer of braiding surrounding it. There are two kinds of fiber: the main fiber and display fibers. The main fiber (1.5 mm wide) holds an STM32 microcontroller, a magnetometer, an accelerometer, and a GPIO pin to interface with external sensors or other fibers. The display fibers are thinner at only one millimeter, and hold an array of addressable LEDs. In testing, the fibers could withstand six Newtons of force and be bent ten thousand times without damage; fibers protected by braiding even survived 40 cycles in a washing machine without any damage. [Cedrik] notes that finding a PCB manufacturer that will make the thin traces required for this circuit board is a bit difficult, but if you’d like to give it a try, the design files are
on GitHub
.
[Cedrik] also showed off a few interesting applications of the thread, including a cyclist’s beanie with automatic integrated turn signals, a woven fitness tracker, and a glove that senses the wearer’s hand position; we’re sure the community can find many more uses. The fibers could be embroidered onto clothing, or embedded into woven or knitted fabrics. On the programming side, [Cedrik] ported support for this specific STM32 core to the Arduino ecosystem, and it’s now maintained upstream by the
STM32duino project
, which should make integration (metaphorically) seamless.
One area for future improvement is in power, which is currently supplied by small lithium batteries; it would be interesting to see an integration of this with
power over skin
. This might be a bit more robust, but it isn’t first
knitted piece of electronics
we’ve seen. Of course, rather than making wearables more unobtrusive, you can go in the
opposite direction
.
| 6
| 2
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8188364",
"author": "shinsukke",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T19:01:27",
"content": "I don’t know man, maybe its my inexperience with flex PCBs but it feels wrong to have the substrate bend and curl. Maybe it would be fine if encapsulated…?Still feels off though",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188413",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T21:11:51",
"content": "i figure it’ll go through an evolutionlast long enough to brag to your friends about it (i.e., to publish a research article)lasts until the end of the halloween partysurvives one wash maybesurvives as well as anythingNot sure what technology will clear that last hurdle but the only thing i know is i will find out about it from it being proven in practice, not from any first principles about its construction :)",
"parent_id": "8188364",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188508",
"author": "Cedric",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T05:39:51",
"content": "@shinsukke + @Greg A:Hi from the FiberCircuits team!Indeed, encapsulation changes everything:Check the paper for more details but silicon waterproofing is kept robust with the over-braiding, up to 40 washing cycles ;)Thanks for the comments!",
"parent_id": "8188413",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188789",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T16:19:00",
"content": "over-braiding with silicone sounds to me like a composite to me, and exactly the sort of technology i’d believe might someday clear the hurdle :) 40 washes is impressive!",
"parent_id": "8188508",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188424",
"author": "Rick C",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T21:48:59",
"content": "What I’d like to know is who can make pcbs that take small bga or wlcsp chips. I’ve got a few csp-18 stm32g0’s of like to play with.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188510",
"author": "Cedric",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T05:41:43",
"content": "Thanks for the comment!The paper compared a couple of manufacturers.If course they will improve over time, but the one that worked the best for this particular project was: isource-asia.com",
"parent_id": "8188424",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
}
] | 1,760,371,407.385583
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/06/how-mercedes-benz-hacked-your-hearing/
|
Airbags, And How Mercedes-Benz Hacked Your Hearing
|
Lewin Day
|
[
"car hacks",
"Engineering",
"Featured",
"Interest",
"Original Art",
"Slider"
] |
[
"airbag",
"airbags",
"car crash",
"collision",
"pink noise",
"sound",
"stapedius reflex"
] |
Airbags are an incredibly important piece of automotive safety gear. They’re also terrifying—given that they’re effectively small pyrotechnic devices that are aimed directly at your face and chest. Myths have pervaded that they “kill more people than they save,” in part due a hilarious episode of
The Simpsons
. Despite this, they’re credited with saving tens of thousands of lives over the years by cushioning fleshy human bodies from heavy impacts and harsh decelerations.
While an airbag is generally there to help you, it can also hurt you in regular operation. The immense sound pressure generated when an airbag fires is not exactly friendly to your ears. However, engineers at Mercedes-Benz have found a neat workaround to protect your hearing from the explosive report of these safety devices. It’s a nifty hack that takes advantage of an existing feature of the human body. Let’s explore how air bags work, why they’re so darn loud, and how that can be mitigated in the event of a crash.
A Lot Of Hot Air
The first patent for an airbag safety device was filed over 100 years ago, intended for use in aircraft. Credit: US Patent Office
Once an obscure feature only found in luxury vehicles, airbags became common safety equipment in many cars and trucks by the mid-1990s. Indeed, a particular turning point was when they became mandatory in vehicles sold in the US market from late 1998 onwards, which made them near-universal equipment in many other markets worldwide. Despite their relatively recent mainstream acceptance, the concept of the airbag actually dates back a lot farther.
The basic invention of the airbag is typically credited to two English dentists—Harold Round and Arthur Parrott—who submitted a patent for the concept all the way back in 1919. The patent regarded the concept of creating an air cushion to protect occupants in aircraft during serious impacts. Specific attention was given to the fact that the air cushion should “yield readily without developing the power to rebound,” which could cause further injury. This was achieved by giving the device air outlet passages that would vent as a person impacted the device, which would allow the cushion to absorb the hit gently while reducing the chance of injury.
The concept only later became applicable to automobiles when Walter Linderer filed for a German patent in 1951, and John W. Hetrick filed for a US patent in 1952. Both engineers devised airbags that were based on the release of compressed air, triggered either by human intervention or automated mechanical means. These concepts proved ultimately infeasible, as compressed air could not be feasibly be released to inflate an airbag quickly enough to be protective in an automobile crash.
It would only be later in the 1960s that workable versions using explosive or pyrotechnic inflation came to the fore. The concept was simple—use a chemical reaction to generate a great deal of gas near-instantaneously, inflating the airbag fractions of a second before vehicle occupants come into contact with the device. The airbags are fitted with vents that only allow the gas to escape slowly. This means that as a person hits the airbag, they are gently decelerated as their impact pushes the gas out of the restrictive vents. This helps reduce injuries that would typically be incurred if the occupants instead hit interior parts of the car without any protection at all.
In a crash, it’s much nicer to faceplant into an air-filled pillow than a hard, unforgiving dashboard. Credit:
DaimlerChrysler AG
, CC BY SA 3.0
The Big Bang
The use of pyrotechnic gas generators to inflate airbags was the leap forward that made airbags practical and effective for use in automobiles. However, as you might imagine, releasing a massive burst of gas in under 50 milliseconds does create a rather large pressure wave—which we experience as an incredibly loud sound. If you ever seen airbags detonated outside of a vehicle, you’ve probably noticed they sound rather akin to fireworks or a gun going off. Indeed, the sound of an airbag can exceed 160 decibels (dB)—more than enough to cause instant damage to the ear. Noise generated in a vehicle impact is often incredibly loud, too, or course. Ultimately, this isn’t great for the occupants of the vehicle, particularly their hearing. Ultimately, an airbag deployment is a carefully considered trade-off—the general consensus is that impact protection in a serious crash is preferable, even if your ears are worse for wear afterwards.
However, there is a
technique that can mitigate this problem. In particular, Mercedes-Benz developed a system to protect the hearing of vehicle occupants in the event that the airbags are fired. The trick is in using the body’s own reactions to sound to reduce damage to the ear from excessive sound pressure levels.
In humans, the stapedius muscle can be triggered reflexively to protect the ear from excess sound levels, though the mechanism is slow enough that it can’t respond well to sudden loud impulses. However, pre-emptively triggering it before a loud event can be very useful. Credit: Mercedes Benz
The stapedius reflex (also known as the acoustic reflex) is one of the body’s involuntary, instantaneous movements in response to an external stimulus—in this case, certain sound levels. When a given sound stimulus occurs to either ear, muscles inside both ears contract, most specifically the stapedius muscle in humans. When the muscle contracts, it has a stiffening effect on the ossicular chain—the three tiny bones that connect the ear drum to the cochlea in the inner ear. Under this condition, less vibrational energy is transferred, reducing damage to the cochlea from excessive sound levels.
The threshold at which the reflex is triggered is usually 10 to 20 dB lower than the point at which the individual feels discomfort; typical levels are from around 70 to 100 dB. When triggered by particularly loud sounds of 20 dB above the trigger threshold, the muscle contraction is enough to reduce the sound level at the cochlea by a full 15 dB. Notably, the reflex is also triggered by vocalization—reducing transmission through to the inner ear when one begins to speak.
Mercedes-Benz engineers realized that the stapedius reflex could be pre-emptively triggered ahead of firing the airbags, in order to provide a protective effect for the ears. To this end, the company developed the PRE-SAFE Sound system. When the vehicle’s airbag control unit detects a collision, it triggers the vehicle’s sound system to play a short-duration pink noise signal at a level of 80 dB. This is intended to be loud enough to trigger the stapedius reflex without in itself doing damage to the ears. Typically, it takes higher sound levels closer to 100 dB to reliably trigger the reflex in a wide range of people, but Mercedes-Benz engineers realized that the wide-spread frequency content of pink noise enable the reflex to be switched on at a much lower, and safer, sound level. With the reflex turned on, when the airbags do fire a fraction of a second later, less energy from the intense pressure spike will be transferred to the inner ear, protecting the delicate structures that provide the sense of hearing.
Mercedes-Benz first released the technology in production models almost a decade ago.
The stapedius reflex does have some limitations. It can be triggered with a latency of just 10 milliseconds, however, it can take up to 100 milliseconds for the muscle in the ear to reach full tension, conferring the full protective effect. This limits the ability of the reflex to protect against short, intense noises. However, given the Mercedes-Benz system triggers the sound
before
airbag inflation where possible, this helps the muscles engage prior to the peak sound level being reached. The protective effect of the stapedius reflex also only lasts for a few seconds, with the muscle contraction unable to be maintained beyond this point. However, in a vehicle impact scenario, the airbags typically all fire very quickly, usually well within a second, negating this issue.
Mercedes-Benz was working on the technology from at least the early 2010s, having run human trials to trigger the stapedius reflex with pink noise in 2011. It deployed the technology on its production vehicles almost a decade ago, first offering PRE-SAFE Sound on E-Class models for the 2017 model year. Despite the simple nature of the technology, few to no other automakers have publicly reported implementing the technique.
Car crashes are, thankfully, rather rare. Few of us are actually in an automobile accident in any given year, even less in ones serious enough to cause an airbag deployment. However, if you are unlucky enough to be in a severe collision, and you’re riding in a modern Mercedes-Benz, your ears will likely thank you for the added protection, just as your body will be grateful for the cushioning of the airbags themselves.
| 40
| 16
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8188253",
"author": "NQ",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T14:08:41",
"content": "Ultimately I understand what they’ve done. Ultimately.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188388",
"author": "BuriedCode",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T20:12:24",
"content": "They Ultimately come out at night – Ultimately",
"parent_id": "8188253",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188254",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T14:11:24",
"content": "All hail “mandatory”…while it lasts.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188262",
"author": "natalie",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T14:37:18",
"content": "Does this mean blasting IDM with lots of noise bursts at deafening volumes can ironically save your ears when you get into a crash?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188349",
"author": "12L14",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T18:32:17",
"content": "This trick was used in soviet made tanks decades ago – so why not?",
"parent_id": "8188262",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188263",
"author": "David Given",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T14:37:43",
"content": "Is the stapedius the thing that causes that weird rumble that happens if you tense something in your ear?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188387",
"author": "GEO",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T20:07:10",
"content": "It’s probably the Tensor Tympani, a different muscle in the ear that also helps to attenuates sound.",
"parent_id": "8188263",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188404",
"author": "DavidP",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T21:02:27",
"content": "Yes, it’s the stapedius reflex.",
"parent_id": "8188263",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188303",
"author": "nooneofconsequence",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T16:26:50",
"content": "Give it a few years/hours and we’ll have silent crashes.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188312",
"author": "McFortner",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T17:06:23",
"content": "So, any bets on how long before this becomes a monthly fee to use?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188482",
"author": "irox",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T02:40:43",
"content": "I guess Tesla could potentially implement it in software (using the car’s existing speakers) as a paid upgrade.",
"parent_id": "8188312",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188725",
"author": "Queeg",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T13:47:45",
"content": "Well, they recently upgraded the airbag system to include data from the cameras to optimize air bag deployment. Over the air, for free. If they chose to do this I’m quite confident it would be free.",
"parent_id": "8188482",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188322",
"author": "DionB",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T17:39:42",
"content": "Epic idea either way. I wonder if other automakers haven’t implemented it because it’d need super close integration between the safety system and infotainment gubbins? Most automakers are just bolting tier 2/3 sourced parts into their vehicles for things like safety etc.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188333",
"author": "Anonymous",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T18:05:43",
"content": "The connection between a vehicle’s stereo system and airbag controller I would imagine violates the separation of critical systems. Given how many automotive infotainment heads are Internet-connected, I wonder how long it will be until airbags start going off spontaneously in Mercedes-Benz vehicles…Overall, I have nothing to argue against the concept, only that it opts to integrate with a vehicle’s questionably safe/secure entertainment system rather than with its own dedicated hardware.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188628",
"author": "mcenderdragon",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T11:08:57",
"content": "You leave out the control chain of events. The sound itself is not mandatory and is only made by the speakers, so the crash detection system can first trigger the sound and then the airbags. Just a simple optional signal.",
"parent_id": "8188333",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188633",
"author": "Shannon",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T11:21:41",
"content": "There’s no in car infotainment system I’ve seen that I’d trust to work in ten milliseconds, they’ve probably added a module to the audio output chain that bypasses the rest of the infotainment system.If they were using the stupid eviro-infotainment system in my car I’d hear the pink noise five seconds after the crash: BANG, “Ow!”, HISS.",
"parent_id": "8188333",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188356",
"author": "Yet Another Robert Smith",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T18:41:00",
"content": "Expect a 100% tariff on German-made pink noise to be announced any day now.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188406",
"author": "DionB",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T21:06:14",
"content": "Could substitute in domestically made purple noise. Costs 50% more given it’s made of red, white annnd blue. But still, jobs or something.",
"parent_id": "8188356",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188573",
"author": "Matthias",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T08:51:00",
"content": "for the US market they might substitute the metric pink noise with imperial orange noise from local sources(warning: this comment may contain traces of humor)",
"parent_id": "8188356",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188864",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T18:46:40",
"content": "You’re German!Humor is funny.‘Funny’ is the thing where people stop scowling and their face appears to break.Some German children do it, until trained.",
"parent_id": "8188573",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188564",
"author": "Johnu",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T08:20:50",
"content": "This is one of those things that shows how bloody impressive modern electronics are – in the time it takes most people to think “oh shit”, the car works out it’s crashing and not only fires a series of explosions in airbags and seatbelt mechanisms but also has enough time to play a little noise through the sound system so it doesn’t hurt your ears while the car is saving your life.Likely it’s also turning on the hazard lights / flashing the brake lights, cutting the fuel supply, and phoning the emergency services while it’s busy crashing too.People love to grumble about modern cars but I’d far rather crash a modern car than anything 30+ years old. People are walking away from accidents that in the old days they’d have just been hosing you out of the wreckage.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188708",
"author": "Jdams",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T13:06:04",
"content": "Ok but did anyone else pick up on the whole, the car can preemptively raise your seats and tighten your seat belt? I’m not too comfortable with the idea of the thing designed to withstand car crashes being able to go boa constrictor on me.If you put the seat further back. Tighten down the straps and then push the seat full forward I wonder if you could take someone out with this tech. Fat people have no chance. Hey maybe I can give a defcon talk if I can weaponize it. (Or sell it to Israel for gobs of cash the devil on my shoulder says)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188833",
"author": "Joel B",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T17:35:39",
"content": "Pre-tensioners are nothing new. My 24 year old Civic has them. It basically yanks on the seatbelt so the occupant is sitting upright.",
"parent_id": "8188708",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189002",
"author": "Chris Maple",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T23:15:16",
"content": "Wouldn’t it be easier to tailor the characteristics of the airbag explosion? Impact detection triggers a bang to shut down the ears and slowly start expanding the bag, then 5 ms later the bag starts expanding more rapidly.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189282",
"author": "Matthias",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T10:38:37",
"content": "considering the sound levels are 8 orders of magnitude apart I’d assume the consistent and reliable handling of a “sound” charge in the same package is more challenging than just including a speaker or a “line out” to the sound system (or directly to the cars speakers, avoiding interaction with the entertainment parts of the car)",
"parent_id": "8189002",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190113",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T13:11:43",
"content": "It’s just like the red-eye pre-flash for a camera. Do a brief, lower-intensity flash, wait for pupils to contract and then the main flash and the picture.Unfortunately, some folks tend to blink with the pre-flash.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190692",
"author": "Volt-k",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T11:30:17",
"content": "I had an opportunity to test drive a Merc with said features on a track more than a year ago. To clarify how the system works:1. The airbag deployment is not delayed, it’s still individual critical system, the sound doesn’t interfere with it in any means, it’s just an extra feature.2. The sound is played as soon as the car detects a condition that could potentially lead to a crash, in my case it was heavy braking on wet surface, car started sliding. No crash occurred but the sound system got triggered.3. Together with that, the passenger’s seat got automatically lowered down and reclined, again to better prepare them for impact4. Yes, the belt tensioners also kicked in too but that’s nothing new really.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190716",
"author": "okstef",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T13:15:07",
"content": "Why not just use noise canceling tech? Microphones in the car pick up all noise (including road noise) and play back phase inverted sound? In case you’re wondering about latency, put the noise canceling speaker in the headrest but the microphone in the airbag",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190867",
"author": "Greg",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T21:49:33",
"content": "What so sick is that out of all this purported talk about pursuing normal hearing restorationhttps://hms.harvard.edu/news/scientists-regenerate-hair-cells-enable-hearinghttps://audiontherapeutics.com/https://chen-lab.meei.harvard.edu/lab-members/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJr86MUYJ8M&t=2308shttps://www.uc.edu/news/articles/2024/08/uc-researcher-studies-new-technology-that-could-help-drugs-travel-to-inner-ear-to-treat-hearing-loss.htmlhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU2Nxdkp9VQ&t=7shttps://med.stanford.edu/hearinglosscure.htmlhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBbow3KZ3AIhttps://medicine.umich.edu/dept/kresge-hearing-research-institutehttps://www.urmc.rochester.edu/labs/whitehttps://www.boehringer-ingelheim-venture.com/investments-regenerative-medicinethat this is currently the only meaningful step towards it.https://www.rinri-therapeutics.com/our-clinical-research/#rincell",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,407.821456
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/06/guitarpie-uses-guitar-as-interface-no-raspberries-needed/
|
GuitarPie Uses Guitar As Interface, No Raspberries Needed
|
Tyler August
|
[
"Musical Hacks"
] |
[
"electric guitar",
"Human Interface",
"pie menu",
"UI"
] |
We’ve covered plenty of interesting human input devices over the years, but how about an instrument? No, not as a MIDI controller, but to interact with what’s going on-on screen. That’s the job o
f GuitarPie, a guitar-driven pie menu produced by a group at the University of Stuttgart
.
The idea is pretty simple: the computer is listening for one specific note, which cues the pie menu on screen. Options on the pie menu can be selected by playing notes on adjacent strings and frets. (Check it out in action in the video embedded below). This is obviously best for guitar players, and has been built into a tablature program they’re calling TabCTRL. For those not in the loop, tablature, also known as tabs, is an instrument-specific notation system for stringed instruments that’s quite
popular with guitar players
. So TabCTRL is a music-learning program, that shows how to play a given song.
With this pairing, you can rock out to the tablature, the guitarist need never take their hands off the frets. You might be wondering “how isn’t the menu triggered during regular play”? Well, the boffins at Stuttgart thought of that– in TabCTRL, the menu is locked out while play mode is active. (It keeps track of tempo for you, too, highlighting the current musical phrase.) A moment’s silence (say, after you made a mistake and want to restart the song) stops play mode and you can then activate the menu. It’s well a well-thought-out UI. It’s also open source, with all
the code going up on GitHub
by the end of October.
The neat thing is that this is pure software; it will work with any unmodified guitar and computer. You only need a microphone in front of the amp to pick up the notes. One could, of course, use voice control–
we’ve seen no shortage of hacks with that
–but that’s decidedly less fun. Purists can comfort themselves that at least this time the computer interface is a real guitar, and
not a guitar-shaped MIDI controller
.
| 14
| 10
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8188209",
"author": "Arno",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T11:42:51",
"content": "Wonderful, please expand this to other instruments that support tablature (diatonic accordeon would be a good start)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188216",
"author": "shinsukke",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T11:59:44",
"content": "Wow really cool. A great use of DSP!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188226",
"author": "ca_heckler",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T12:26:37",
"content": "That’s a very neat hack and genuinely useful! Getting fancy, if you get the audio from your signal chain with a footswitch option to mute the amp, a live performer can use this to switch backing tracks easily, etc.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188245",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T13:24:19",
"content": "of course! because the ‘guitar hero’ game needs a UIi’ve been dreaming for a long time about making this sort of thing as a UI for non-music apps. it’d be epicly impractical (even if i lost the use of my hands, speech recognition has more bandwidth than tone recognition). but it’d be a good exercise to improve my ear. but i keep getting hung up on questions likeabsolute notes (i can sing two octaves, or about 24 semitones hah) or relative intervals?trigger on tone detection, or provide feedback until the end of the tone so i can ‘hunt’ for the right note and only stop when i’ve hit it?pie menu or ??something else?? 24 tones isn’t quite an alphabet, and 24 tones is already an ambitious goal.really the point of the thing is how incredibly difficult it would be to get anything done — the difficulty is training! so i guess the details don’t matter, but on the other hand i’ve already made a number of tools just for training (with no “input device” aspect) so maybe i’m just being silly. it’s a dream :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188520",
"author": "Victor",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T06:49:01",
"content": "Morse code plus chirps wouldn’t be bad. Short/long+ 3 -5 tone ranges+ up/down/static chirps. You’d sound like king jiggy from banjo tooey but it seems workable.",
"parent_id": "8188245",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188249",
"author": "robomonkey",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T13:52:07",
"content": "I just want to hear them use this to type a letter!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188251",
"author": "shinsukke",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T14:01:26",
"content": "This is what UI people should be doing instead of changing colors and using the same 50-year-old radio buttons and checkboxes. The world is due for a whole new set of input methods.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188314",
"author": "m1ke",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T17:10:40",
"content": "Don’t forget changing the font. That counts as a new feature!",
"parent_id": "8188251",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188276",
"author": "joegreensticks",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T15:09:02",
"content": "From a guitar player, very awesome stuff!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188277",
"author": "Sammie Gee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T15:09:35",
"content": "IMHO: “…computer is listening for one specific note, which cues the pie menu on screen…” is a bit of an over-engineering, but lets’ see where that takes one. Translation – guitar-leaded synths is not a new invention, and synths that act as keyboards triggered by guitar notes have been around since 1970s (probably, earlier – just I wasn’t yet born back then to witness :] ).I personally knew one of the local guitar-synth enthusiasts, who used Max/MSP packages he programmed himself (well, not from scratch, from templates), that did something similar; one can repeat the same feat using PureData, which used to be the foundation for Max/MSP. A friend of mine was not only triggering this and that, he was also commanding the sampler using his guitar notes being played (detecting sequences of notes played, to be exact). The logistics, according to him, were actually straightforward, AND – here’s where it gets interesting – he learned this trick during his sabbatical in Netherlands, where someone else was doing the same – and this was year 2004 or so.Rewind to present and find other nifty piece of hardware that can accomplish kind of sort of similar feat on the cheap, no, not full-blast Raspberrypi, humble XIAO SAMD21, because it does have rudimentary 12-bit ADC with which one can “sense” notes. My friend back then, he was planning to use Arduino MEGA, that can potentially sense all six strings (though, not simultaneously, one ADC switching between 6 inputs, but you get the rough idea), no less than 10 years ago. I honestly don’t remember if he did – we kind of grew apart, but from time to time I hear his name – he lives in Baltimore, MD, where there is quite a community of experimental electronic arts artists, inventing and building their own rigs/wares similar to this one, some – on a shoestring/zero budget.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188279",
"author": "Sammie Gee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T15:24:22",
"content": "Additional technical details nobody asked for – both PureData and Max/MSP can process the actual sounds being played. While they can trigger MIDI as well, it is not really their purpose – both meant to process the data that comes in, music or video. (hint is in the name – ‘PureDATA’).I’ve played with PureData (since I could never find spare money to buy Max/MSP), and it boils down to all three being used at the same time, raw data (streaming bits), signals that command them around within the PureData, and, if one wants to, spat out / ingested MIDI commands – in addition to. It is actually amazing piece of software, since one can also ingest and spit out voltage control stuffs (like voltage-controlled pitch and whatnots). Basically, PureData can acts as a standalone music workstation, load and play samples, or, if you are into sound architecture, you can build your synths from scratch right within. Mixing is included as well, you can do all kinds of things, reverb/echo, phase shifting, sound stretching/tuning, the sky is the limit.Note sensing is part of PureData, too, but it gets even better – one can build/create Markov Chains (one of the example patches) and build his own personal chord progressions based on the chord played presently. Yes. Tablatures, chord progressions, basics of music theory, which chord sounds right, following which chord and vice-versa. No programming. Right within PureData itself. One can actually get the source code and compile it into the target architecture directly, it is that easy (though, fair warning – real-time streaming means you already know how to set up and use real-time sound libraries, like ALSA).(I am neither affiliated with, nor work with anyone who wrote PureData – I am also NOT connected with anything Max/MSP, both are mentioned as something I run across, or briefly used).",
"parent_id": "8188277",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188357",
"author": "Roberto",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T18:42:11",
"content": "Rocksmith game already do this.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188449",
"author": "azuresparky",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T23:46:57",
"content": "Can hardly wait to download this. Sounds fantastic.Will try at end of October.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188740",
"author": "Augusto Pomponi",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T14:33:13",
"content": "Did not say anything about lefthanded guitar players?",
"parent_id": "8188449",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
}
] | 1,760,371,407.533933
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/06/esp32-decodes-s-pdif-like-a-boss-or-any-regular-piece-of-hi-fi-equipment/
|
ESP32 Decodes S/PDIF Like A Boss (Or Any Regular Piece Of Hi-Fi Equipment)
|
Lewin Day
|
[
"digital audio hacks"
] |
[
"audio",
"digital audio",
"s/pdif"
] |
S/PDIF has been around for a long time; it’s still a really great way to send streams of digital audio from device A to device B. [Nathan Ladwig] has got the ESP32 decoding SPDIF quite effectively,
using an onboard peripheral outside its traditional remit.
On the ESP32, the Remote Control Transceiver (RMT) peripheral was intended for use with infrared transceivers—think TV remotes and the like. However, this peripheral is actually quite flexible, and can be used for sending and receiving a range of different signals. [Nathan] was able to get it to work with S/PDIF quite effectively. Notably, it has no defined bitrate, which allows it to work with signals of different sample rates quite easily. Instead, it uses biphase mark code to send data. With one or two transitions for each transmitted bit, it’s possible to capture the timing and determine the correct clock from the signal itself.
[Nathan] achieved this feat as part of his work to create an ESP32-based RTP streaming device. The project allows an ESP32 to work as a USB audio device or take an S/PDIF signal as input, and then transmitting that audio stream over RTP to a receiver which delivers the audio at the other end via USB audio or as an SPDIF output. It’s a nifty project that has applications for anyone that regularly finds themselves needing to get digital audio from once place to another. It can also run a simple visualizer, too,
with some attached LEDs.
It’s not the first time we’ve seen S/PDIF decoded on a microcontroller;
it’s quite achievable if you know what you’re doing.
Meanwhile, if you’re cooking up your own digital audio hacks, we’d love to hear about it.
Digitally, of course
, because we don’t accept analog phone calls here at Hackaday. Video after the break.
| 5
| 3
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8188231",
"author": "Ewald",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T12:33:56",
"content": "The github mentions you need S/PDIF transceiver hardware to do S/PDIF without specifics, but his other repo gives a little bit more info:https://github.com/netham45/esp32-spdifNice project.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188512",
"author": "Cak",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T05:59:39",
"content": "For transmitting S/PDIF, a LED and a resistor is enough. If your board already has a builtin LED that is connected to a port pin, it can transmit S/PDIF. You just have to fit an optical fiber to it somehow.Receiving requires a phototransistor and a resistor, or a commercial S/PDIF receiver.https://www.cicciocb.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9765&hilit=spdif#p9765",
"parent_id": "8188231",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188428",
"author": "Gordon Rankin",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T22:00:24",
"content": "First SPDIF is not a great interface for audio as the master clock has to train on the incoming signal which means it varies due to the way it handles flow control (i.e the sending and receiving not having the same clock). USB or UAC1/2 would work better if the sending is done with the asynchronous method which has a feedback pipe to the sender to control the flow control and the receiving side using a fixed instead of varying clock. Most NXP i.MX6 & 8 have good SPDIF receivers and transmitters. Also if we go back to the beginning of SPDIF, Philips created that to test CD players that were closed box. A known CD was placed in the drive a 3 connection was connected to the CD player (R&L analog & SPDIF output). There the test rig could verify the digital and analog content. Original SPDIF was 75 ohms on an RCA connector… a connector that cannot be 75 ohms!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188950",
"author": "Nathan Ladwig",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T21:17:42",
"content": "I’m doing clockless recovery by using the RMT peripheral to measure widths between transitions coupled with a state machine that converts those transitions back into a binary stream. I build a histogram of pulses and use it to identify the pulse lengths for the current signal, and from there I can build a state machine to track what it’s currently doing that outputs a binary stream. Looked at it this way spdif has short and medium pulses used for BMC and long pulses that it uses for it’s preambles that violate BMC decoding. Roughly, short short = 0b, medium = 1b, long = frame preamble for resynchronizationshort is .5t, medium is 1t, long is 1.5t where t is the length of one BMC bit",
"parent_id": "8188428",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188630",
"author": "Jimothy",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T11:12:28",
"content": "It’s wild how perfectly timed this article hit. I actually had to make sure it was posted recently rather than just my algorithms dragging it up at the right time (while pooping obviously) I’ve spent the past few days searching for a way to turn a microcontroller into a guitar fx pedal for my 3d printed acoustic guitar which I’ve added 4 piezo for pickups that I’m super pleased at myself for performing this super basic task correctly enough to get signal. I want to give it an Arduino controlled led show too because it’s printed in glow in the dark filament that works great with black light leds. But now that I see this telling me I can use one of my esp32s to get the basic functionality of an audio device, or perhaps Daisy chain for multiple devices/effects? I don’t know! I’m so confused and scared😂 I’ve got choice paralysis! lol I kid, I’ll probably continue on with this pico fx route. I have all the parts arriving today and all that. But for the next audio project?!?! So many erotic choices! I’m especially intrigued about how I could integrate the esp32 special dedicated protocol for wireless signals into a sound making device.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,407.86141
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/05/apples-continuing-failing-repair-score-with-the-airpods-pro-3/
|
Apple’s Continuing Failing Repair Score With The AirPods Pro 3
|
Maya Posch
|
[
"Repair Hacks",
"Teardown"
] |
[
"Apple repair",
"ifixit",
"teardown"
] |
It takes quite a bit of effort to get a 0 out of 10 repairability score from iFixit, but in-ears like Apple’s AirPods are well on course for a clean streak there, with the AirPod Pro 3 making an abysmal showing in
their vitriolic teardown video
alongside their
summary article
. The conclusion is that while they are really well-engineered devices with a good feature set, the moment the battery wears out it is effectively e-waste. The inability to open them without causing at least some level of cosmetic damage is bad, and that’s before trying to glue the device back together. Never mind effecting any repairs beyond this.
Worse is that this glued-together nightmare continues with the charging case. Although you’d expect to be able to disassemble this case for a battery swap, it too is glued shut to the point where a non-destructive entry is basically impossible. As iFixit rightfully points out, there are plenty of examples of how to do it better, like the Fairbuds in-ears. We have seen other in-ears in the past that can have some maintenance performed without having to resort to violence, which makes Apple’s decisions here seem to be on purpose.
Although in the comments to the video there seem to be plenty of happy AirPod users for whom the expected 2-3 year lifespan is no objection, it’s clear that the AirPods are still getting zero love from the iFixit folk.
| 18
| 9
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8188119",
"author": "Harvie.CZ",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T05:47:07",
"content": "I consider earbuds to be a consumable item and therefore the pricerange i choose from reflects that.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188142",
"author": "macsimki",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T07:16:37",
"content": "they came a long way, from a desktop computer, held together with just two non essential screws, everything clicking together, one piece holding the onther piece in place, to this monstrosity. it all started when jobs came back with the first generation imacs. horrible to replace a hard drive.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188433",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T22:15:02",
"content": "Hi, the iMac hardware wasn’tthatnew even at the time.The Power Macintosh 5200, Macintosh TV or Power Mac G3 AIO looked roughly similar.The translucent design of the iMac G3 was new and pretty, of course.But other things had used translucent plastic at the time, too.The transparent GameBoy of 1995, the N64 in different colors, the popular GameBoy Color variant in translucent purple..Some Tamagotchis, PDAs and educational toys were in clear plastic, too.There were transparent computer mice in late 1980s, even.",
"parent_id": "8188142",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188157",
"author": "shinsukke",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T08:35:21",
"content": "Is there any way to make these earphones actually repair friendly? All of them that I’ve opened to fix (usually a battery replacement, can’t ever put them back together) have been held together by snap fit plastic enclosures. I honestly don’t know much about enclosures but I would imagine these would be too small to have screw holes in the body",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188171",
"author": "Kaliin",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T09:22:21",
"content": "Well watches have a few dozen screws in them, so it should be possible, but probably not as cost effective as glue..Especially to get the IP rating, a press fit could be tight but then I would guess that creep would be a problem.Although snap fits work well for a long time? Anyone with better insight to correct me?)I’m not against gluing elements, I think with the right tool it can be a good solution and reparable.I’m thinking of the back of the phone glued, sure, it’s less convenient than just a snap fit, but if I can just put it on my 3d printer bed and heat the back so that it simply opens without damaging anything, I’m okay with it.I just skimmed through the Ifixit video, but he seems to try to open the plastic earbuds with a metal cutter and then complains that it made scratches.Yeah, who would have guessed?Maybe a plastic lever (like you can find in cheap repair kit for phones) wouldn’t have damaged anything?I didn’t looked further electronic wise etc.. But sometimes having the right tooling (and it doesn’t have to be costly) is all you need to have the thing to be confortably reparable.",
"parent_id": "8188157",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188204",
"author": "Dan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T11:21:36",
"content": "Not whilst keeping the tiny form factor. The fairpods ones are noticeably larger; some might like that aesthetic but I can’t say I do. And that’s assuming they work as well; having tried a cheaper alternative, AirPods do know what they’re doing when it comes to making it work.I don’t think it’s reasonable to assume every device should have a battery that’s replaceable by an untrained consumer. And BT versions seem to change faster than the batteries wear out (albeit I’m not a heavy user), so I’m not convinced they’ll outlast the software/firmware/radio-version updates.And we know what batteries they’d replace them with too – the super cheap off-brand ones which catch fire.Anyone angling for this I’m going to suspect is an EMT doctor hoping for more work!BUT – they absolutely should take them back for recycling. As should every manufacturer.",
"parent_id": "8188157",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188321",
"author": "a_do_z",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T17:37:57",
"content": "“I don’t think it’s reasonable to assume every device should have a battery that’s replaceable by an untrained consumer.”As far as I know, there are in-ear hearing aids with consumer replaceable batteries. Can any tricks be gleaned from that industry?",
"parent_id": "8188204",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188372",
"author": "Felix Domestica",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T19:10:39",
"content": "I have the impression that hearing aids are usually an order of magnitude more expensive than comparable earbuds.It’s hard to optimize on all axes at once.",
"parent_id": "8188321",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188215",
"author": "Chr Elz",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T11:58:36",
"content": "Not without changing the form factor radically. The closest thing is Fairphone’s Fairbuds, which is a great effort but not quite as slick as Airpods.",
"parent_id": "8188157",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188229",
"author": "Mark Topham",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T12:30:30",
"content": "Have you ever had a batter explode in your ear?Can’t imagine why Apple would do things this way…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188969",
"author": "Jeff",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T22:10:21",
"content": "Oh god, that’s an absolutely terrifying thought that has, somehow, up until now completely escaped my brain.I, for one, have not and personally, I would like to think that I would do everything I can to prevent that reality from ever occuring. :-/",
"parent_id": "8188229",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188252",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T14:03:20",
"content": "i recently took apart an ipod nano (blast from the past) to properly dispose of its battery. It’s basically a squashed aluminum tube, with the insides slid into it. It has 4 tiny screws at the corners, which secure the end-caps on. So i was pretty impressed by the design! But, it’s aluminum and spent years getting banged around and each of the 4 corners was rounded/bent enough that there was no way to get anything out without destroying it. Maybe a more careful guy could have straightened out the corners.A mixed message — itispossible to do a good job on impressively tiny devices, but even so it isn’t a guarantee it willactuallybe repairable after regular use",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188264",
"author": "H Hack",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T14:42:29",
"content": "Could people please thing about the bottom line for Apple before they criticize their design decision. Apple needs to maximize their revenue for shareholders. Why should they make it easier to fix/maintain their stuff when that’ll just lead to people buying fewer overpriced hardware from them? They’re not a charity and their customers think they don’t have a choice. Apple is in the business of making money from their customers.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188434",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T22:25:48",
"content": "The Power Macs of the 2000s were still very repair-friendly.Just think of the iconic Power Mac G3 Blue/White here.The same applies to the Mac Pro series before the cheese grater.These products were easy to service, without needing tools.Apple used thumb screws for easy access, even.So longvstory short: Before the iPod and iPad, when Apple was still a computer company,the situation was exactly the opposite of what it is today.So it’s not a question of whether it’s possible or not. It’s a shift in philosophy or corporate policy.Apple has become more of a fashion company than an IT company.A change which makes the Macintosh line and Mac users do suffer. IMHO.",
"parent_id": "8188264",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188873",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:05:59",
"content": "It’s the same as German car companies.When the majority of the market is buying a status symbol, it’s just expected that the company will ‘respond to market forces’ by making better status symbols.With the German car companies, that kind of ended when the Chinese stopped buying German cars in meaningful numbers.IIRC that had peaked at 40% of benzes sales.Don’t know what they’re doing now.Even my RICH German second cousin says ‘Never again will I buy a S-class’.I think he should, an old 450SL, those were good cars.V8s!Worth fixing.The cheaper relatives have also said ‘Never another VW product.’",
"parent_id": "8188434",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188266",
"author": "G-man",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T14:44:46",
"content": "The company that shreds it’s old devices rather than supply spares makes a device that’s impossible to repair. Colour me surprised.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188398",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T20:50:17",
"content": "Crying foul on the repairability of something like this is more discrediting than crediting. A phone, sure..",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188536",
"author": "Hassi",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T07:19:11",
"content": "I mean, there are components that are bigger than these ear-pods and no one bats an eye about repairing a relais or caps. So at what point do we accept that these are in fact non repairable items? The form factor is the main feature, so its not really feasible to have every component to be swapped out – at least until someone does it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,407.589868
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/05/splashflag-raising-the-flag-on-a-pool-party/
|
Splashflag: Raising The Flag On A Pool Party
|
Matt Varian
|
[
"hardware"
] |
[
"ESP32-S3",
"internet of things",
"IoT",
"mqtt"
] |
Some things are more fun when there are more folks involved, and enjoying time in the pool is one of those activities. Knowing this, [Bert Wagner] started thinking of ways to best coordinate pool activities with his kids and their neighborhood friends. Out of this came the
Splashflag
, an IoT device built from the ground up that provides fun pool parties and a great learning experience along the way.
The USB-powered Splashflag is housed in a 3D-printed case, with a simple 2×16 LCD mounted on the front to display the notification. There’s also a small servo mounted to the rear that raises a 3D-printed flag when the notification comes in—drawing your attention to it a bit more than just text alone would. Hidden on the back is also a reset button: a long press factory-resets the device to connect to a different Wi-Fi network, and a quick press clears the notification to return the device to its resting state.
Inside is an ESP32-S3 that drives the servo and display and connects to the Wi-Fi. The ESP32 is set up with a captive portal, easing the device’s connection to a wireless network. The ESP32, once connected, joins an MQTT broker hosted by [Bert Wagner], allowing easy sending of notifications via the web app he made to quickly and easily send out invitations.
Thanks, [Bert Wagner], for sharing the process of building this fun, unique IoT device—be sure to read all the details on his website or check out the code and design files available over on his
GitHub
. Check out some of our other
IoT projects
if this project has you interested in making your own.
| 7
| 4
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8188111",
"author": "Patrik",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T05:19:26",
"content": "And, what does it do?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188125",
"author": "Cliff",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T06:09:11",
"content": "I’m guessing that unlike the thumbnail the Splashflag is not actually by the pool but in the houses of the friends / neighbours. When the flag goes up this signals “people are in the pool” with the message how long they will be there. Meaning: People can decide if they want to join or not plus they know for roughly how long they will be there.",
"parent_id": "8188111",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188402",
"author": "Node808",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T20:56:54",
"content": "This needs a pair of leads running into the pool to provide a nice little tingle when time is up.",
"parent_id": "8188111",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188161",
"author": "Hussien",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T08:44:18",
"content": "At first I misread the title as “Poo party”. Sounds exciting.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188319",
"author": "David H",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T17:29:08",
"content": "Does it include amotionsensor?",
"parent_id": "8188161",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188274",
"author": "hk",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T14:59:23",
"content": "“Originally our idea was to put up a special “we’re swimming” flag outside in our front yard when our kids were in the pool, alerting the neighbors that they are welcome to come over and swim as well. The flag would be an open invitation, without the overhead of planning, group texts, and phone calls.”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188300",
"author": "a_do_z",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T16:19:49",
"content": "Fun idea. I like it better than the far more practical idea of sending out a text message to a list of potential attendees.This little gizmo could be used for any spontaneous neighborhood social activity. My neighbors who have been there a while tell me that they used to have something they called the 9th Street Lounge (“9th” is an obfuscation). This was an occasional get together in somebody’s driveway or front patio where they’d hang out and consume a few adult beverages.Can I get one that tells us when the ice cream man is in the neighborhood so I don’t have to hear the Waltzing Matilda tune at high volume with really terrible audio quality for 10 minutes or so at a time?:-)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,407.988764
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/09/meshtastic-a-tale-of-two-cities/
|
Meshtastic: A Tale Of Two Cities
|
Tom Nardi
|
[
"Featured",
"Network Hacks",
"Radio Hacks",
"Slider"
] |
[
"mesh networking",
"Meshtastic"
] |
If I’m honest with myself, I don’t really
need
access to an off-grid, fault-tolerant, mesh network like
Meshtastic
. The weather here in New Jersey isn’t quite so dynamic that there’s any great chance the local infrastructure will be knocked offline, and while I do value my privacy as much as any other self-respecting hacker, there’s nothing in my chats that’s sensitive enough that it needs to be done off the Internet.
But damn it, do I
want
it. The idea that everyday citizens of all walks of life are organizing and building out their own communications network with DIY hardware and open source software is incredibly exciting to me. It’s like the best parts of a cyberpunk novel, without all the cybernetic implants, pollution, and over-reaching megacorps. Well, we’ve got those last two, but you know what I mean.
Meshtastic maps are never exhaustive, but this gives an idea of node density in Philly versus surrounding area.
Even though I found the Meshtastic concept appealing, my seemingly infinite backlog of projects kept me from getting involved until relatively recently.
It wasn’t until I got my hands on the Hacker Pager
that my passing interest turned into a full blown obsession. But it’s perhaps not for the reason you might think. Traveling around to different East Coast events with the device in my bag, it would happily chirp away when within range of Philadelphia or New York, but then fall silent again once I got home. While I’d get the occasional notification of a nearby node, my area had nothing like the robust and active mesh networks found in those cities.
Well, they say you should be the change you want to see in the world, so I decided to do something about it. Obviously I wouldn’t be able to build up an entire network by myself, but I figured that if I started standing up some nodes, others might notice and follow suit. It was around this time that Seeed Studio introduced the SenseCAP Solar node, which looked like a good way to get started. So I bought two of them with the idea of putting one on my house and the other on my parent’s place down the shore.
The results weren’t quite what I expected, but it’s certainly been an interesting experience so far, and today I’m even more eager to build up the mesh than I was in the beginning.
Starting on Easy Mode
I didn’t make a conscious decision to start my experiment at my parent’s house. Indeed, located some 60 miles (96 km) from where I live, any progress in building out a mesh network over there wouldn’t benefit me back home. But it was the beginning of summer, they have a pool, and my daughters love to swim. As such, we spent nearly every weekend there which gave me plenty of time to tinker.
For those unfamiliar with New Jersey’s Southern Shore area, the coastline itself is dotted with vacation spots such as Wildwood, Atlantic City, and Long Beach Island. This is where the tourists go to enjoy the beaches, boardwalks, cotton candy, and expensive rental homes. But move slightly inland, and you’ll find a marshland permeated with a vast network of bays, creeks, and tributaries. For each body of water large enough to get a boat through, you’ll find a small town or even an unincorporated community that in the early 1900s would have been bustling with oyster houses and hunting shacks, but today might only be notable for having their own Wawa.
To infinity, and beyond.
My parents are in one of those towns that doesn’t have a Wawa. Its very quiet, the skies are dark, and there’s not much more than marsh and water all around. So when I ran the SenseCAP Solar up their 20 foot (6 m) flagpole, which in a former life was actually the mast from a sailing catamaran, the results were extremely impressive.
I hadn’t had the radio up for more than a few hours before my phone pinged with a message. We chatted back and forth a bit, and I found that my new mesh friend was an amateur radio operator living on Long Beach Island, and that he too had just recently started experimenting with Meshtastic. He was also, incidentally, a fan of Hackaday. (Hi, Leon!) He mentioned that his setup was no more advanced than an ESP32 dev board sitting in his window, and yet we were reliably communicating at a range of approximately 6 miles (9 km).
Encouraged, I decided to leave the radio online all night. In the morning, I was shocked to find it had picked up more than a dozen new nodes. Incredibly, it was even able to sniff out a few nodes that I recognized from Philadelphia, 50 miles (80 km) to the west. I started to wonder if it was possible that I might actually be able to reach my own home, potentially establishing a link clear across the state.
Later that day, somebody on an airplane fired off a few messages on the way out of Philadelphia International Airport. Seeing the messages was exciting enough, but through the magic of mesh networking, it allowed my node to temporarily see networks at an even greater distance. I picked up one node that was more than 100 miles (160 km) away in Aberdeen, Maryland.
I was exhilarated by these results, and eager to get back home and install the second SenseCAP Solar node. If these were the kind of results I was getting in the middle of nowhere, surely I’d make even more contacts in a dense urban area.
Reality Comes Crashing Home
You see, at this point I had convinced myself that the reason I wasn’t getting any results back at home was the relatively meager antenna built into the Hacker Pager. Now that I had a proper node with an antenna bigger than my pinkie finger, I was sure I’d get better results. Especially since I’d be placing the radio even higher this time — with a military surplus fiberglass mast clamped into the old TV antenna mount on my three story house, the node would be around 40 feet (12 m) above the ground.
The mast gets my node above the neighbor’s roofs, but just barely.
But when I opened the Meshtastic app the day after getting my home node installed, I was greeted with….nothing. Not a single node was detected in a 24 hour period. This seemed very odd given my experience down the shore, but I brushed it off. After all, Meshtastic nodes only occasionally announce their presence when they aren’t actively transmitting.
Undaunted, I made plans with a nearby friend to install a node at his place. His home is just 1.2 miles (1.9 km) from mine, and given the casual 6 mile (9 km) contact I had made at my parent’s place, it seemed like this would be an easy first leg of our fledgling network.
Yet when we stood up a temporary node in his front yard, messages between it and my house were only occasionally making it through. Worse, the signal strength displayed in the application was abysmal. It was clear that, even at such a short range, an intermediary node would be necessary to get our homes reliably connected.
At this point, I was feeling pretty dejected. The incredible results I got when using Meshtastic in the sticks had clearly given me a false sense of what the technology was capable of in an urban environment. To make matters even worse, some further investigation found that my house was about the worst possible place to try and mount a node.
For one thing, until I bothered to look it up, I never realized my house was located in a small valley.
According to online line-of-sight tools
, I’m essentially at the bottom of a bowl. As if that wasn’t bad enough, I noted that the Meshtastic application was showing an inordinate number of bad packets. After consulting with those more experienced with the project, I now know this to be an indicator of a noisy RF environment. Which may also explain the exceptionally poor reception I get when trying to fly my FPV drone around the neighborhood, but that’s a story for another day.
A More Pragmatic Approach
While I was disappointed that I couldn’t replicate my seaside Meshtastic successes at home, I’m not discouraged. I’ve learned a great deal about the technology, especially its limitations. Besides, the solution is simple enough — we need more nodes, and so the campaign to get nearby friends and family interested in the project has begun. We’ve already found another person in a geographically strategic position who’s willing to host a node on their roof, and as I write this a third Seeed SenseCAP Solar sits ready for installation.
At the same time, the performance of Meshtastic in a more rural setting has inspired me to push further in that region. I’m in the process of designing a custom node specifically tailored for the harsh marine environment, and have identified several potential locations where I can deploy them in the Spring. With just a handful of well-placed nodes, I believe it should be possible to cover literally hundreds of square miles.
I’m now fighting a battle on two fronts, but thankfully, I’m not alone. In the months since I’ve started this project, I’ve noticed a steady uptick in the number of detected nodes. Even here at home, I’ve finally started to pick up some chatter from nearby nodes. There’s no denying it, the mesh is growing everyday.
My advice to anyone looking to get into Meshtastic is simple. Whether you’re in the boonies, or stuck in the middle of a metropolis, pick up some compatible hardware, mount it as high as you can manage, and wait. It might not happen overnight, but eventually your device is going to ping with that first message — and that’s when the real obsession starts.
| 75
| 24
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8190176",
"author": "FiveEyesNoPrize",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T14:17:00",
"content": "I don’t need access to…Until you do. Remember, if you don’t hold the keys… eventually someone else (a bad actor, a despot, a state-sanctioned spy agency) can lock you out.Contrary to popular belief, or “first-world” infrastructure is not immutable.I recommend everyone familiarize themselves with Meshtastic/LoRa, ATAK, AREDN and so on… sooner rather than later.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190233",
"author": "Andrew",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T15:41:03",
"content": "Finally a HackaDay article I cam really relate too. I too have been dreaming of a Mesh node device on my roof… but I don’t have any real NEED for one other than curiosity. This article has inspired me to finally buy a node.",
"parent_id": "8190176",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190259",
"author": "David",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T16:30:55",
"content": "Contrary to popular belief, or “first-world” infrastructure is not immutable.Good thing too, because after awhile, “immutable” translates as “stagnant/stuck in the past.”",
"parent_id": "8190176",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190967",
"author": "Desmond Elliott",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T01:31:13",
"content": "Check out airs-stream.org, this mesh has been a labor of love and research and fun for 25 years now!",
"parent_id": "8190176",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191137",
"author": "SmokeyJoe",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T13:05:32",
"content": "For areas with high RF interference have you considered ground wave trasmitters? This technology is used with mining disaster comms. It works better in damp soil than dry. Learned about this when Ham was king.",
"parent_id": "8190176",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190201",
"author": "Then",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T14:50:47",
"content": "“ there’s nothing in my chats that’s sensitive enough that it needs to be done off the Internet.”It is all in the eye of the beholder.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190206",
"author": "C",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T15:02:04",
"content": "It sounds like the common “I don’t have anything to hide” objection to privacy.Technology exists to identify the author of a piece of text with just a few sentences. Everyone has a unique way to write things. If you add type speed you can get even more accurate.Even if the context of the message or the author is not sensitive the timing can be. It is very useful information to know if someone is sleeping or awake, at home or at work. It’s called “pattern of life” POL. It’s used by detectives to catch criminals. But can also be used by burglars to pick the right house.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190208",
"author": "C",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T15:04:06",
"content": "I was referring to “while I do value my privacy as much as any other self-respecting hacker, there’s nothing in my chats that’s sensitive enough that it needs to be done off the Internet”(I tried to reply to “Then” but accidentally replied directly to the article instead)",
"parent_id": "8190206",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190209",
"author": "Then",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T15:05:51",
"content": "You do not know… Once the tsa picked me out and questioned me for 6 hours because they found CIA emails on me… they were looking in my spam folder… ymmv",
"parent_id": "8190208",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190212",
"author": "C",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T15:09:22",
"content": "I’m glad they never searched my devices. Though half the time they want to pat me down. I guess I’m irresistible LOL.",
"parent_id": "8190209",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190843",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T20:03:38",
"content": "My junk always causes a yellow crotch alert on the TSA backscatter scanners.After seeing many smirks, side eyes and nudges between black girl/gay male TSAs I got a look at their screens.It even shows the ‘angle of the dangle’, left or right.Have considered deliberately breaking a filesystem to loop subdirectories on my phone.Let the TSA snoop program try to copy an infinite number of ‘TSAsucks.txt’ files, hang.Might even be a ‘new crime’.But ‘Computer Fraud and Abuse Act’ makes anything (involving a computer) a federal judge doesn’t like retroactively illegal.‘Post ipso facto, post schmipso facto’ says the judge as he waggles his wig!Just so.Stunning effect!",
"parent_id": "8190212",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190260",
"author": "Wilko",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T16:33:23",
"content": "I don’t have anything to hide, but “they” don’t have to know that.Loesje",
"parent_id": "8190206",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190211",
"author": "DougM",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T15:06:29",
"content": "Ok, I admit it, your article tipped me over the edge. I’ve ordered one. Been meaning to for a long time anyway…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190227",
"author": "Danie",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T15:30:01",
"content": "Good read. We have about 85 plus active nodes across Cape Town now, and with one node placed on top of a mountain, we have linked to the town of Worcester, 100 km away from Cape Town, on the other side of the mountain.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190245",
"author": "mark g",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T16:07:20",
"content": "IMO, it’s most fun as a war driving type exercise. It can be satisfying to spot new nodes, or really distant nodes. For actual communications it suffers from both a lack of nodes in rural areas and overcrowding in the cities (NYC is crazy if reliable coms are your goal).",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190268",
"author": "AZdave",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T16:41:33",
"content": "Meshtastic sounds kind of cool and I might decide to give it a try just for grins, especially since I live on a steep hillside with line of sight for tens of miles in most directions. But it seems to me that for actual emergency communication when the brown stuff hits the fan that GMRS is more practical for local contacts and ham radio can’t be beat for longer paths.What am I missing?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190353",
"author": "JB",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T19:00:02",
"content": "I hope none of this feels like an attack/argument; you asked what you’re missing, so I wanted to point at some things.Meshtastic’s barrier to entry is lower, if only because of the licensing requirements for both GMRS and ham radio. Yes, you can transmit without a license in an emergency; the point is that you can prep andpracticetoday with mesh devices, with no licensing or testing requirements.Meshtastic can be more resilient. GMRS (i.e. VHF/UHF) radio ranges are relatively short and line-of-sight, if you don’t have repeaters alive locally. If youdohave repeaters locally, what’s the relative likelihood of a single repeater surviving a weather event, vs the likelihood of all the mesh devices going down?Radio is synchronous; Meshtastic is async. Do you want/need all comms in a SHTF scenario to be sync?Meshtastic is trivially plugged into ATAK, which might be really,reallyuseful for SAR stuff in your area (and here again, practice with your community is critical, so a reduced barrier to entry on the fundamental tool is important)If you’re prepping for a diversity of scenarios, a diversity of tech and tools is a good thing. GMRS and Ham radios meet some needs; Mesh stuff meets other use cases. They’re not mutually exclusive; they’re complementary.",
"parent_id": "8190268",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190439",
"author": "Mark R Hunsberger",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T23:23:34",
"content": "Amen",
"parent_id": "8190353",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190741",
"author": "mark g",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T14:21:38",
"content": "All that is super interesting, and yet FMRS/GMRS works on commodity hardware on Wal Mart shelves with zero specialized knowledge or configuration.I really do love Meshtastic. If I’m envisioning my own post-apocalyptic tech fantasyland then, sure, that’s the kind of thing I’m using. If I’m envisioning something useful in a likely scenario, it’s really just a toy (that, again, I enjoy playing with and could get my own small group to pick up for fun in the woods or whatever).",
"parent_id": "8190353",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191591",
"author": "Bartz0rt",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T12:59:31",
"content": "It’s the lower barrier of entry for me. You don’t need a license, and only about €50 worth of equipment. That made it an easy decision for me to just buy some to play around with. Besides, I figured that in case of an actual emergency there’ll be a more serious amateur radio person in range who’ll have waited their entire life for the opportunity to be the hub in an impromptu communication network. And I was right, that’s basically the first node I detected!",
"parent_id": "8190268",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190308",
"author": "alnwlsn",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T17:42:15",
"content": "One time, I wanted to learn about Meshtastic when I was on vacation, so I brought some of the supported boards with me and quickly learned that it is really difficult to set up if you’re somewhere without internet. The recommended firmware flasher is a web app. So is the official client (or it’s an app, so you need to get an app store), and the documentation. When I got home, I learned about how I could have self-hosted all this stuff, but it’s not like you can download one big archive file and have everything ready to go instantly.It’s been hard to accept the claims of “fully off line, fully off grid” ever since. Even if it’s technically true, it’s not practically true.Would be a good project to make a raspberry pi image or something that has it all, but I’ve not gotten to it yet.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190326",
"author": "svofski",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T17:58:26",
"content": "The things you used, like client from the play store and web-based flasher, are made purely for your convenience. It was your choice to make it “practically not true”. You don’t need internet connection to use Meshtastic.There is no need to make a special raspberry pi image because all it takes to make pi usable with Meshtastic is installing python and meshtastic package, all done with standard OS utilities. Setup is easy to carry on over the serial using cli utility. Later on you can use a TUI client called contact.Android or Apple phone is not required at all, it’s just what everyone has in their pockets anyway so the guides tend to be phone-centric.",
"parent_id": "8190308",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190350",
"author": "alnwlsn",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T18:54:39",
"content": "Again, only obvious in hindsight. You absolutely do need an internet connection to onboard meshtastic, for every step that starts with git clone or pip install. Yes, once they are installed they will work offline but you have to know you need them first. There’s no how-to-use-meshtastic.pdf you can download and read at your leisure until you have internet again.Might be too harsh of a criticism. Obviously, you’ll need an internet connection (and a credit card) to purchase the boards in the first place. You’ll also need an OS installed on your computer.",
"parent_id": "8190326",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190356",
"author": "svofski",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T19:08:14",
"content": "Optimally you need to prepare before, not when the internet is already down. I don’t think you can fault Meshtastic project for that. Once you have prepared yourself, you’re likely to have a few devices, bootstrap files and knowledge to provide for others in need.",
"parent_id": "8190350",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190744",
"author": "Nath",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T14:27:06",
"content": "This preparation is key. Even if alnwlsn comment is valid and made me think about how it would be nice for an ability to flash some Meshstatic board (with empty flash) with a firmware from another identical device which itself got a firmware ; like offline strapbooting.",
"parent_id": "8190356",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190855",
"author": "Roger Wilco",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T21:04:00",
"content": "You are right, pre in preparation means before an event.But i feel the critic that mashtastic is so over the place and hot right now, that it is somewhat hard to get startet just by pure information overflow.Which hardware to start with, what software to choose. Everyone has its fingers in the soup.So just get into that topic on the small screen is annoying because it is scattert bits of written text you first have to identify as usefull. Or watch an hole evening of videos, to realise most of them are plain garbage (or affiliate boosters).So the one encyclopedi as PDF ore epub for mashtastic or any topic would be highly appreciated. I didn’t check, but assume that our library is not jet equipped with a (paper)book.",
"parent_id": "8190356",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190698",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T11:53:47",
"content": "I’d suggest this is more a product of your (and all of our) self training in how to use technology in the modern world – go back to the 90’s or early 2000’s and you might use the internet to learn but the expectation is still you take the time to really study and prepare, getting in everything you need in advance (and probably read the man pages and any cached info from the internet should you need a reminder or more info while doing it).Now you just expect to tap into the collective hive mind of the internet and quite possibly high speed mail order or click and collect any hardware parts you forget as its so easy and accessible you just don’t need to prepare the same way. I’ve noticed some of the same behaviour in myself, I suspect we are all guilty of it to some extent.",
"parent_id": "8190350",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190311",
"author": "rtyjuryjur",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T17:44:51",
"content": "ok, why not installing meshtastic on church building?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190489",
"author": "make-log",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T02:30:04",
"content": "Well, at least my childhood church will be deconstructed soon, as many others.But I like the idea",
"parent_id": "8190311",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190661",
"author": "Tim Andersson",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T09:13:55",
"content": "But I like the ideaMe too. No churches means no child abuse.",
"parent_id": "8190489",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190663",
"author": "Bob",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T09:22:25",
"content": "Come to the UK, its an entirely different religion which is responsible for it.",
"parent_id": "8190661",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190844",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T20:11:20",
"content": "Teachers have the same % as priests.Which is weird, most teachers are female.Male teachers must really ‘overperform’.The difference is the number of victims per Priest and the length of the coverup.You’d think the Catholic church would stop pontificating for just a second…Nope.",
"parent_id": "8190661",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190872",
"author": "Dan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T22:13:39",
"content": "You should see the % of 80s BBC children’s presenters… 🤮",
"parent_id": "8190844",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190313",
"author": "AL256",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T17:45:04",
"content": "Nice writeup; just getting started in the MTic world.Will kick off a solar build in the next few months that gets mounted at around 780ft MSL – look forward to see what happens. Lots of locations around for small solar-nodes to keep the messages hopping … :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190329",
"author": "Electronic Eel",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T18:02:43",
"content": "How is your experience regarding powering the SenseCAP fully off solar and battery?On the roof of your house I guess it wouldn’t be hard to run up a power cable. But what if you want to place a node at some strategic position in the woods or on a summit? There you would have to rely on solar. Would that also work in winter, with only a few hours of daylight and the batteries getting cold?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191584",
"author": "Ilmarix",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T12:47:30",
"content": "4 18650 cells will give keep it powered for weeks in total darkness. Heck, even s usb powerbank will keep a node alive 2 weeks and that’s with the losses of extra voltage conversion steps.",
"parent_id": "8190329",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190352",
"author": "nrrm",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T18:56:58",
"content": "I really like the Lilygo T-Deck Pro, a Blackberry style Meshstatic device. No need for a phone as HID and you can even put offline map tiles on a SD card to see your (and other node’s) location. Usually I hand it to my son when we go skiing or hiking.https://lilygo.cc/products/t-deck-plus-meshtastic",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190708",
"author": "MikeB",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T12:18:37",
"content": "sigh … now I’m looking at that Blackberry keyboard, sure do miss it.",
"parent_id": "8190352",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190357",
"author": "Thehinac",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T19:15:39",
"content": "I have a Hacker Pager the antenna is meh. But there is room to add an antenna yourself.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191218",
"author": "rooted",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T18:31:23",
"content": "You dropped $200 on a meshtastic device? Do you feel it was worth the cost now?",
"parent_id": "8190357",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190402",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T21:09:43",
"content": "Kinda buried a lede though: The issue of the ambient electronic smog killing our radio services is getting serious and getting worse by the day.Hamstringing and gutting the FCC is going in the wrong direction.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190418",
"author": "Orzel",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T21:33:29",
"content": "I consider myself almost fluent in English, and I don’t have any problem understanding most of what i read in English. Especially technical papers/articles. But on hackaday, very often, articles contain things that are either very american (such as cultural references, maybe to tv or local news or people), or using some very local spoken language. You can tell this is very specific/local when google can’t help you. Or hardly.Typically, here, I dont have the slightest idea what a ‘Wawa’ is, or an “unincorporated community”, or…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190433",
"author": "Mateo",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T22:43:31",
"content": "Wawa is a common East Coast convenience store that has a pretty good restaurant. “unincorporated community” a town with minimal amounts of people to the point it usually only has a number or not even that.",
"parent_id": "8190418",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190454",
"author": "Dave",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T23:52:40",
"content": "Wawa is a petrol station/convenience store/restaurant… when Wawa opens a new location, the locals see it as improving their status in life [Sheetz > Wawa].An unincorporated community is like a hamlet. Collection of residences, sometimes without an official name, or maybe just a name known to the locals, probably part of a larger official government division (township, etc.).",
"parent_id": "8190418",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190537",
"author": "NFM",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T04:09:48",
"content": "To parrot Orzel, even your explanation of demographic specific jargon contains demographic specific jargon….What is Sheetz?",
"parent_id": "8190454",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190562",
"author": "Dave",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T05:08:40",
"content": "I actually intended that as demographic-specific jargon, as you say. Sheetz is a competing gas (petrol) station/convenience store/restaurant in central Pennsylvania and West Virginia.Sheetz-Wawa Rivalry:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheetz%E2%80%93Wawa_rivalry?wprov=sfla1",
"parent_id": "8190537",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190643",
"author": "zogzog",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T08:37:46",
"content": "So do I, I just google those…",
"parent_id": "8190418",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190678",
"author": "Sammie Gee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T10:25:54",
"content": "You are not the only one, even us, amerikanz, sometimes don’t have a foggiest idea what common names specific to certain states/areas are.Regardless, Wawa is not the best eatery/cantena around, it is just they are open 24-hrs, and that’s about all that’s good about these (spoiler – one of my relatives works a night shift). Gas station, yes, some Wawas have gas stations, some – do not, and IMHO, better food is served by Tim Hortons (“Timmy” they call them in Canada) – these have been slowly spreading south of the canadian border.As far as “convenience” goes, Wawa is not exactly convenient, limited stock, etc. They are actually a horrible replacement for the mom-and-pop general stores that were literally everywhere, every corner of every street, up until ~ early 1990s when Big Bad Franchises bankrupted them out of existence. I truly miss those stores, where locals knew the owner, and it was common to walk in, and usually find what you need, today’s newspaper, fresh hot dog and coffee made to order (for 1/10th of equivalent Starbucks), or have your house keys copied, or buy spare set of shoe laces (or get your shoes fixed), or hear the local rumors before they appear in tomorrow’s newspaper, etc etc. There was one stronghold general store that survived up until mid-2000s, they even had a friendly pharmacist on premises (!!!), obviously, trained and all, in addition to things like fresh-baked pastries, etc etc. Tiny store, no larger than half a drug store, and the owner was always there, an old men in his 80s, who knew everything, how to fix leaking toilet, where to go for vacation, etc.Back to the thread at hand, every general store should have a Meshtastic mast with a local node – because that’s where people stop by in the morning, during lunch, etc etc. Because it just make perfect sense.",
"parent_id": "8190418",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190681",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T10:56:37",
"content": "I pity you if Tim Hortons has better food than your local place. They barely qualify as ‘food’. And the brown bilgewater they serve I call ‘SCP’ : Simulated Coffee Product’.Apropos to mesh: Timmy’s are so thick on the ground in many parts of Canada they are line-of-sight to each other: They could run a coast-to-coast Meshtastic net just with a node at each Timmy’s.",
"parent_id": "8190678",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190697",
"author": "Sammie Gee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T11:49:37",
"content": "Yepyep, the last paragraph summs it up just nicely : – ] IMHO, every “long hours convenience store” sure as hell can afford one $100 solar-powered node up a $200/300 fiberglass mast that runs carefree on its own 24 hrs a day. Knowing their budgets, they can probably install a dozen of those for one-time price of servicing their air conditioner / vent units. :-]Food-wise, average-run-of-the-mill wawa food is so bad, even Timmy’s food tastes better (according to my taste buds – I’ve been regularly traveling northeast-US-Canada every year, and Timmy wins so far). I’d say the two are probably about equals now, and northeastern US may just end up the two facing each other on every corner like local Burger King and McDs do. Oh, and local 7/11s are no more, where I live the last stores closed out few years back, Wawa decidedly won, so now it is up to Timmy to do something better.That’s why I mentioned general stores – the ones I’ve witnessed had rather good food, not precanned-speedily-re-heated wawa/timmy variety, they actually made their own food, soups, hamburgers, oatmeal (they had hot oatmeal/cereals – something completely missing from other “convenience stores” – if you have little kids, you damn well know how important THAT is), etc etc.One particular store that I liked even baked their own bread; obviously, they were too small to have everything, but they did mix their own dough, baked it fresh every morning, etc – I happened to ask the owner if they do (“yes, OF COURSE!” he said, “how else would one go about it?”). Not the one I’ve mentioned earlier, another one near – and one could tell what they are baking by the wiff of stuff floating in the morning air – like cranberry cookies. (the story continues, this same plaza was one of the school bus stops, and sure enough, kids in the morning would smell freshly made bread/cookies and ask “dad, can we buy that while waiting for the bus”? – yep, my kids, yep, many a cold winter morning).",
"parent_id": "8190681",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190440",
"author": "Mateo",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T23:25:34",
"content": "Forgot to say the unincorporated towns usually have no infrastructure of their own as well meaning EMS, Schools, that sort of thing.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190441",
"author": "Mark R Hunsberger",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T23:27:34",
"content": "Where in NJ? There’s a lot of little gnarly pine trees and sand down there….",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190492",
"author": "make-log",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T02:33:06",
"content": "Any recommendations for a weather proof antenna including 5 m of coax cable?I don’t feel fine putting it at the highest point, though… (fear of lighting strike)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190509",
"author": "d00med",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T03:15:51",
"content": "It’s best to keep any coax as short as possible, preferably mount the antenna right on top of the node. Other than the ipex to sma/n pigtail, I would use lmr-400 or better. I just mounted an antenna in the attic with a few feet of coax to avoid having the node hardware itself bake in the attic.)",
"parent_id": "8190492",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190856",
"author": "Cody",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T21:09:20",
"content": "5 meters of LMR-400 only has 0.64dB of loss at 900MHz. That’s not really even noticeable.",
"parent_id": "8190509",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190668",
"author": "Buzz",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T09:47:19",
"content": "Try Meshcore – Meshtastic messaging is frequently unreliable due to their managed flood algorithm which frequently fails in practice. Meshcore is Meshtastic done right when it comes to messaging.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191153",
"author": "Wolf",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T14:24:01",
"content": "And it runs on the same hardware!It is much more reliable for messaging, but less hacking friendly. You can’t connect external sensors via UART easily.",
"parent_id": "8190668",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190709",
"author": "Tom",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T12:46:20",
"content": "After using both Mashtastic and MeshCore I kept the 2nd.I find MeshCore works better. More reliable communications(more packetsget thru)Easy to “flash” MeshCore on any Meshtastic device.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190717",
"author": "Orzel",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T13:16:23",
"content": "Both of them are based on LoRa, which is proprietary. That sounds so bad for a survival thing..",
"parent_id": "8190709",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190937",
"author": "targetdrone",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T00:41:41",
"content": "That’s not how “survival things” work. You prepare with what’s available. If the SHTF whether or not something was proprietary becomes meaningless–nobody’s making any new electronics of any sort after the apocalypse. One strategy is to pick something popular and hope to salvage them if you need more.If you’re hoping to interoperate with other existing radios, the time to decide that is now. But existing radios on wavelengths higher than shortwave are capable of and designed around point to point communications; maybe after TEOTWAWKI someone will still be running a repeater so you can reach a bigger area. But a mesh network is like being surrounded by dozens of mostly local repeaters, and anyone with a node and a battery is going to help you.",
"parent_id": "8190717",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190721",
"author": "svofski",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T13:22:53",
"content": "A Hackaday article comparing the two would be a welcome read. In my experience Meshtastic is outrageously unreliable so it would be interesting to see how Meshcore fares in a similar setting.",
"parent_id": "8190709",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190925",
"author": "Nick",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T00:20:34",
"content": "A Hackaday article comparing the two would be a welcome read.+1",
"parent_id": "8190721",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190711",
"author": "Tom",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T12:53:22",
"content": "Meshtastic is BLOATED….MeshCore does ONE thing, moves text messages.Dang I wish we had a “edit” button. ie—Mashtastic",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190742",
"author": "mark g",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T14:25:42",
"content": "How is MeshCore adoption?",
"parent_id": "8190711",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190750",
"author": "loxmyth",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T14:44:37",
"content": "I happen to know one of the few people who is provably sensitive to fairly low level RF radiation, experiencing a significant amount of discomfort if there is a live cell phone in a car with her, for example. I was skeptical, but this has been blind tested enough that I no longer suspect it is psychosomatic.This makes me just slightly hesitant about blanketing the neighborhood with additional RF, and specifically about hosting one of these repeater nodes.I have offered to do so anyway, since my house is already awash in enough Wi-Fi and zigbee that it will probably make no difference locally… But this is a concern that we may want to consider addressing, limiting signal levels to what is necessary to reach adjacent nodes and possibly designing the system to remain silent unless there is actually traffic to be carried.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190762",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T15:30:16",
"content": "fairly low level RF radiation, experiencing a significant amount of discomfort if there is a live cell phone in a car with her, for example. I was skeptical, but this has been blind tested enough that I no longer suspect it is psychosomatic.I’m not aware of any study into this, or what mechanism it might be but I’d wonder how it is possible for them to have survived this long if they are really bothered by the frequencies LoRa operates in, or the 2.4ghz spectrum at all. Its a really noisy RF environment just about everywhere on Earth and has been since the invention of radio really and those frequencies are among the worst, so if they mattered…So assuming there actually is truth behind it at all I’d suggest it must be something about the specific encoding or the phoning home to find the right base station type messages, so a mesh network that isn’t the same frequency or using those methods shouldn’t matter at all – it would have to be very very specific to some narrow frequency, encoding system or perhaps antenna design that creates the specific resonance with them or they would be in pretty much permanent significant discomfort…",
"parent_id": "8190750",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190788",
"author": "Scientific Consensus Says..... [X]",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T17:02:23",
"content": "This is far more likely an auditory sensitivity issue, where the hardware itself is creating noise from electricity flowing through certain parts, or faulty audio hardware producing extremely high-pitched noises from the speaker based on processing load.Try putting the phone in Airplane mode, Wifi and everything off, and also try inside a Faraday cage.",
"parent_id": "8190750",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190847",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T20:17:10",
"content": "Nobody yet tested is able to reliably identify the box with an active cell phone in it.NOBODY.There have been others who make the claim, but double blind testing has revealed none who can.Your friend can make history, or not.",
"parent_id": "8190750",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191618",
"author": "pelrun",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T13:35:07",
"content": "Considering there is literally nowhere on the planet that is “free” from RF energy, claims that people are sensitive to modern day radio devices are akin to someone sitting neck-deep in the ocean on a foggy day complaining that the fog is stopping them from being dry.",
"parent_id": "8190847",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191223",
"author": "rooted",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T18:41:25",
"content": "Most homes in the US had one or more cordless home phones from the late 80s until the early 2000s and from 1994 on most were upgraded to 900mhz and beyond.I don’t think it’s a problem.",
"parent_id": "8190750",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191587",
"author": "Ilmarix",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T12:52:30",
"content": "Most Meshtastic devices have the same power output as WiFi. Every home has multiple WiFi emitters already, so there isn’t going to be much difference in radiation levels out in the street.",
"parent_id": "8190750",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190773",
"author": "emem",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T16:07:57",
"content": "In the UK Meshcore worked fron the start, consistently improved over the months and just transitioned the whole mesh to even better narrow settings. Its not far off most of the country being connected.That’s something which would be impossible with Meshtastic, which has proven utterly useless and lost so many users recently by their own stubbornness.The fact that LoRa is proprietary doesn’t matter much, you aren’t paying to use it other than buying the chip and you dot technically have to do that it can work on others.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191227",
"author": "rooted",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T18:47:45",
"content": "It’s a relatively small area to cover when compared to the vastness of the US, that said it’s still impressive it has been widely adopted and deployed.This will never happen in the US due to the large swaths of land between populated areas in many states. At least not without much more power which sort of defeats the purpose.",
"parent_id": "8190773",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191589",
"author": "Ilmarix",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T12:55:20",
"content": "Narrow bandwidth is probably what makes meshcore work better, instead of the Meshtastic default of dividing the entire frequency band intoonewide channel and just hoping it will be louder than every other thing using the same frequency band.",
"parent_id": "8190773",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190790",
"author": "Ryan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T17:15:41",
"content": "I would say to look for online groups in your area. There may be a lot more nodes around, but not o the LongFast preset. Several groups have moved to MediumFast due to density and noise. My group,https://denvermesh.org, has looked into it, but as we are still only hitting around 20% channel utilization, have held off. Perhaps we can even inspire some more tinkering and placement ideas, as well as proper role usage.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,407.703338
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/09/google-japan-turn-out-another-keyboard-and-its-a-dial/
|
Google Japan Turn Out Another Keyboard, And It’s A Dial
|
Jenny List
|
[
"Peripherals Hacks"
] |
[
"dial",
"keyboard"
] |
There’s a joke that does the rounds, about a teenager being given a dial phone and being unable to make head nor tail of it. Whether or not it’s true, we’re guessing that the same teen might be just a stumped by
this year’s keyboard oddity from Google Japan
. It replaces keys with a series of dials that work in the same way as the telephone dial of old. Could you dial your way through typing?
All the files to make the board, as well as a build guide, are in the GitHub repository linked above, but they’ve also released a promotional video that we’ve put below the break. The dials use 3D printed parts, and a rotary encoder to detect the key in question. We remember from back in the day how there were speed dialing techniques with dial phones, something we’ve probably by now lost the muscle memory for.
We like this board for its quirkiness, and while it might become a little tedious to type a Hackaday piece on it, there might be some entertainment for old-timers in watching the youngsters figuring it out. If you’re hungry for more,
we’ve covered them before
.
Thanks [ikeji] for the tip.
| 20
| 12
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8190043",
"author": "whoopie",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T11:27:28",
"content": "Is this video real or satire? I love it",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190156",
"author": "Chris Gammell",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T14:00:53",
"content": "That entire GBoard YouTube channel is a bunch of tongue-in-cheek fun videos. Turn on captions to see just how many puns they’re flinging.",
"parent_id": "8190043",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190157",
"author": "UnderSampled",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T14:02:31",
"content": "Yes.",
"parent_id": "8190043",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190262",
"author": "Steven-X",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T16:37:24",
"content": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WazA77xcf0AIt really cool!",
"parent_id": "8190043",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190048",
"author": "tiopepe123",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T11:39:13",
"content": "What’s going on with the Japanese that everything seems to be spinning for them?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190067",
"author": "bob",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T11:58:34",
"content": "I suspect there’s an rf jammer designed to block psychic abilities in the region. alternating current has the tendency to make objects rotate, and brass screws unscrew from fuse boards, but it could also be along the lines of junji ito’s uzumaki, a dark future where we all spiral together into degenerative extinction.",
"parent_id": "8190048",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190138",
"author": "Aknup",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T13:42:02",
"content": "All independent developers HAVE to supply a government issued ID. For safety and shit.…Oh and also they are required to use this dial keyboard.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190139",
"author": "DionB",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T13:42:05",
"content": "WTF was that???! And yea, why are they all rotisserie-ing while talking?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190142",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T13:43:14",
"content": "The Gboard app for Android has recently become dramatically unstable. They’re changing around a lot of UI details that had been consistent for years, and ignoring app hints that have worked for more than a decade. And they’re introducing a ton of bugs — sporadic settings loss, lag, etc. It’s one of the reasons i think this website’s focus on some mild restriction on side loading is completely unhinged. Android truly is crossing lines to enter the territory of villainous unusability, but the real failures are being ignored. Core apps are becoming gratuitously unusable. Google is clearly abandoning the idea of caring about customer experience.Anyways I’m bringing this up because this project somehow has the Gboard name on it, which makes me wonder if the senior Gboard team has abandoned software development for youtube content creation, leaving some unsupervised interns to wreak the havoc we’ve been experiencing.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190148",
"author": "IIVQ",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T13:51:52",
"content": "I once showed my typewriter to a friend only 5 years younger than me. It was fun seeing him struggle to get a sheet of paper in. His girlfriend had still used one of those, and she flipped the lever, put the sheet in, aligned the edges to make the paper straight, flipped the lever back and her only problem was finding the carriage unlock lever (which is hard to find on my model). It’s stark to see the difference between a first time-user and a has-not-used-this-technology-often-and-not-at-all-in-30-years-user.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190203",
"author": "Matthew",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T14:56:57",
"content": "Teenager? These days it’s good odds any given 30 year old has never used a rotary phone.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190320",
"author": "KDawg",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T17:52:09",
"content": "I’m 46 and while I know how to use them i can’t recall ever needing to use one",
"parent_id": "8190203",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190365",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T19:33:34",
"content": "i’m 45 and when i was a kid my dad went to the store and shook every phone until he found one that had a real bell in it. so i have used a rotary dial :)",
"parent_id": "8190320",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190388",
"author": "IIVQ",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T20:17:06",
"content": "I’m 42 and I disliked calling my grandmother because her phone number was mostly 8’s, 9’s and 0’s.",
"parent_id": "8190320",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190317",
"author": "Doug",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T17:49:05",
"content": "My grandsons were unable to use a rotary phone. Not yet teenagers at the time.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190419",
"author": "Joel B",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T21:38:15",
"content": "“Google Japan Turn Out Another Keyboard, And It’s A Dial”Shouldn’t that read“Google Japan Turned Out Another Keyboard, And It’s A Dial”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190452",
"author": "pelrun",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T23:50:59",
"content": "Either is valid grammatical english.",
"parent_id": "8190419",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190526",
"author": "Thinkerer",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T03:53:28",
"content": "So many dials for so little output – go find a Dymo embosser and get spinning.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190652",
"author": "Jan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T08:50:21",
"content": "I really like this sense of humor, the return key really got me, I did not see that one coming!Regarding the design, I did not expect it to have steppers motors inside, I expected/hoped for a bit more oldskool mechanical clockwork like approach.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190781",
"author": "Falcon",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T16:38:39",
"content": "I lost it at the enter key. Haha",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,408.041735
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/09/billy-bass-gets-new-job-as-a-voice-assistant/
|
Billy Bass Gets New Job As A Voice Assistant
|
Bryan Cockfield
|
[
"home hacks"
] |
[
"automation",
"billy bass",
"ESP32",
"fish",
"home-assistant",
"voice assistant"
] |
For those who were alive and conscious before the modern Internet, there were in fact things that went “viral” and became cultural phenomenon for one reason or another. Although they didn’t spread as quickly or become forgotten as fast, things like Beanie Babies or greeting a friend with an exaggerated “Whassup?” could all be considered viral hits of the pre-Internet era.
Another offline hit from the late 90s was the Billy Bass, an absurdist bit of physical comedy in the form of a talking, taxidermied fish. At the time it could only come to life and say a few canned lines,
but with the help of modern hardware it can take on a whole new life
.
This project comes to us from [Cian] who gutted the fish’s hardware to turn it into a smart voice assistant with some modern components, starting with an ESP32 S3. This chip has enough power to detect custom “wake words” to turn on the fish assistant as well as pass the conversation logic to and from a more powerful computer, handle the audio input and output, and control the fish’s head and tail motors. These motors, as well as the speaker, are the only original components remaining. The new hardware, including an amplifier for the speaker, are mounted on a custom 3D printed backplate.
After some testing and troubleshooting, the augmented Billy was ready to listen for commands and converse with the user in much the same way as an Alexa or other home assistant would. [Cian] built this to work with Home Assistant though, so it’s much more open and easier to recreate for anyone who still has one of these pieces of 90s kitch in a box somewhere.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, these talking fish have been the basis of plenty of hacks over the years since their original release like
this one from a few years ago that improves its singing ability
or
this one from 2005 that brings Linux to one
.
| 8
| 6
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8190081",
"author": "Sammie Gee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T12:20:06",
"content": "I am pretty confident one BIily Bass can replace three department managers. Same general idea, random regurgitation poorly of digested words overheard uttered by inferiors.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190187",
"author": "Miles",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T14:32:56",
"content": "Two things I hate merged into one, peak satire. I’ll wait for the SNL sketch.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190265",
"author": "MacAttack",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T16:41:05",
"content": "Bassomatic ’25 – You get the whole bass, the skin, the MCU, the DC motors …I still like the ’76 model better.",
"parent_id": "8190187",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190765",
"author": "Jeffey spaghetti",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T15:46:22",
"content": "IM PRETTY sure that Bassomatic salesman went bankrupt and had to go into Male prostitution. Or maybe they’re brothers, not sure.",
"parent_id": "8190265",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190225",
"author": "TerryMatthews",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T15:28:01",
"content": "Meh I just used my Alexa puck line out into an arduino to trigger the motors. Kept the original mobo because the H bridges on there were already done. It is just speech to motion but it is fun and it never gets old watching it command the vacuum to start or running a skyrim adventure :) Saddest thing is the “upgraded” Billy Bass they released a few years ago as a bluetooth speaker. They really whiffed on that one…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190253",
"author": "Sengfroid",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T16:18:47",
"content": "A while back, but not too long in the timespan of Billy Bass, they released an Alexa enabled model that was essentially this sams HW modding and Home Assistant setup.Was around 2020CE, but definitely more USD than I was willing to pay for the novelty",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190366",
"author": "alnwlsn",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T19:33:39",
"content": "A couple years back I made a tool to help me do custom animations for my hacked up billy bass. Then, after finishing the project and realizing it would just sit on the shelf most of the time, I decided to put the whole thing on the internet.If you ever need a custom video of a billy bass saying something, I’m your guy.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190619",
"author": "DanaG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T07:21:55",
"content": "Now do it again with the “Singing Mother-In-Law” toy:https://youtu.be/II5qI05nGv0",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,407.747904
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/08/why-stepper-motors-still-dominate-3d-printing/
|
Why Stepper Motors Still Dominate 3D Printing
|
Maya Posch
|
[
"3d Printer hacks"
] |
[
"servo motor",
"stepper motor"
] |
It’s little secret that stepper motors are everywhere in FDM 3D printers, but there’s no real reason why you cannot take another type of DC motor like a brushless DC (BLDC) motor and use that instead. Interestingly, some printer manufacturers are now using BLDCs for places where the reduction in weight matters, such as in the tool head or extruder, but if a BLDC can be ‘stepped’ much like any stepper motor, then why prefer one over the other? This is the
topic of a recent video
by [Thomas Sanladerer], with the answer being mostly about cost, and ‘good enough’ solutions.
The referenced driving method of field-oriented control (FOC), which also goes by the name of
vector control
, is a VFD control method in which the controller can fairly precisely keep position much like a stepper motor, but without the relatively complex construction of a stepper motor. Another advantage is that FOC tends to use less power than alternatives.
Using a
FOC controller
with a BLDC is demonstrated in the video, which also covers the closed-loop nature of such a configuration, whereas a stepper motor is generally driven in an open-loop fashion. Ultimately the answer at this point is that while stepper motors are ‘good enough’ for tasks where their relatively large size and weight aren’t real issues, as BLDCs with FOC or similar becomes more economical, we may see things change there.
| 42
| 10
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8189893",
"author": "Joe",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T05:21:00",
"content": "I’m surprised we haven’t seen brushed DC motors with position feedback like in consumer inkjet printers. Even with a dozen nylon gears, I would still expect it to be far cheaper than heavy steppers with drivers.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189913",
"author": "Urgon",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T05:51:50",
"content": "With brushed DC motors you can’t lock them by driving at specific current and voltage. You can do that with BLDC and especially with steppers. The one problem with steppers is that the holding torque drops with microstepping. At 1/16 steps you get 9.80% of nominal torque, and that drops to 4.91% with 32 microsteps. With 3D printing that’s not a big deal as the moving mass is quite small. But for CNC machines in which a spindle alone weights twice as much as even the heaviest extruder head, this creates a problem of loosing position. And once you loose a few steps, your work is ruined, and you can even break the milling bit because machine doesn’t know where it is and thus it can hit the part holder (which happened to me a few times).",
"parent_id": "8189893",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189965",
"author": "Michaël",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T07:26:17",
"content": "That is why a brushed DC motor with position feedback comes in. You’re right, in itself the motor can’t be “locked in place”, but using a position control loop, this is perfectly possible, even without consuming current when it is not battling forces to stay in position (a stepper always consumes). It basically behaves like a hobby servo motor then.",
"parent_id": "8189913",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190093",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T12:47:45",
"content": "And like a hobby servo, it has some compromises like dead band and loop response time.A stepper motor in open loop control is fire and forget. Either it has enough torque/power/speed to perform the movement, or it doesn’t. Having the feedback loop doesn’t help the motor break physics.",
"parent_id": "8189965",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190144",
"author": "Marco",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T13:46:26",
"content": "A stepper can for a short time have more torque, just increase the voltage. Closed loop can do that when it’s needed, open loop has no concept of need and is limited by worst case thermals to have lower achievable torque.",
"parent_id": "8190093",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190190",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T14:35:22",
"content": "The feedback loop still has to respond to the need of torque by recognizing that the motor is lagging behind where it’s supposed to be, but that’s damage already done if you’re driving two motors at the same time and they have to remain in sync.So the open loop stepper either does the motion you demand of it, or not. The feedback controlled BLDC motor does the motion if it can, and if it fails it’s too late to correct because it’s already made a beeline to the wrong position. It can get back on track, but when you’re operating that close to the limits to need corrective action, it’s going to be veering off all over the place and the result won’t be acceptable.The closed loop feedback is useful in fine positioning assuming you don’t have high torque/speed demands at the same time. It eliminates the non-linearities of microstepping and cumulative errors caused by missed steps, but it won’t push the motor past its fundamental performance limits in a helpful way. If your motor is too small, it is too small.Which is another way of saying: you can’t compensate for bad mechanical design in software.",
"parent_id": "8190093",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190217",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T15:19:59",
"content": "The feedback loop still has to respond to the need of torque by recognizing that the motor is lagging behind where it’s supposed to be, but that’s damage already done if you’re driving two motors at the same time and they have to remain in sync.So the open loop stepper either does the motion you demand of it, or not. The feedback controlled BLDC motor does the motion if it can, and if it fails it’s too late to correct because it’s already made a beeline to the wrong position. It can get back on track, but when you’re operating that close to the limits to need corrective action, it’s going to be veering off all over the place and the result won’t be acceptable.The closed loop feedback is useful in fine positioning assuming you don’t have high torque/speed demands at the same time. It eliminates the non-linearities of microstepping and cumulative errors caused by missed steps, but it won’t push the motor past its fundamental performance limits in a helpful way. If your motor is too small, it is too small.Which is another way of saying: you can’t compensate for bad mechanical design in software.",
"parent_id": "8190093",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190228",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T15:30:05",
"content": "The alternative and often better way to do it is to pre-empt the need for high torque by recognizing that you’re going to be demanding high acceleration and increasing the drive voltage before you run off track, then reducing it back down when you’re not demanding as much. That implies you have a dynamic model of the system to predict when and how much torque you will be needing before you actually need it.Then you can use feedback control on top to correct for the discrepancies between your model and the actual hardware.",
"parent_id": "8190093",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190386",
"author": "Urgon",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T20:14:54",
"content": "In the end it’s a question, how big a motor should be or how precise the movement must be. With 200 steps motor and 4mm pitch screw and no microstepping I get 0,02mm resolution. Adding half-steps is enough to get 0,01mm resolution, something my current 3D printer has with its core X-Y setup. And I retain more than 70% of the nominal torque. The movement of my CNC mill is a bit jerky, but it’s less likely to loose position during operation. I had a machine that was set for 800 steps per rotation, and it couldn’t really operate because it lost position too easily with its small and underpowered motors. Switched to 400 steps, adjusted currents and changed power supply to higher voltage, and it started to work decently, despite being a cheap 3018 mill with worst spindle ever, and many (poorly) 3D printed parts…",
"parent_id": "8190093",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190389",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T20:18:48",
"content": "First order approximation of a stalled brushed DC motor is a dead short.They can hold a fixed position, but don’t like it.Also: Don’t anthropomorphize components, they hate that.",
"parent_id": "8189965",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190011",
"author": "paulvdh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T09:06:59",
"content": "No, .holding torque does not drop with microstepping. That is a widespread and stubborn misconception. The only thing that microstepping does is approach the motor currents with an ever more accurate sinusoidal waveforms.The original article (somewhere from the ’60-ies I think) was that if you wan to reach the accuracy of x fold microstepping, then you can not apply more torque to the motor (Assuming no feedback). Depending upon the applied torque, there is going to be a phase shift between the electrical and mechanical magnetic fields in the stepper motor. That is all. Read up a bit on FOC, where the goal is to maintain a 90 degree phase shift between the electrical and mechanical electric fields to optimize motor efficiency.Or to write it another way: The difference between 1/8 1/16 or 1/64 microstepping is only tiny differences in the motor current, but according to that old article it would have a giant effect on motor torque.The reason geared DC motors are not common is that you can’t have the backlash of the gears in a 3D printer. Once you add higher quality gears and the position feedback, it’s going to be more expensive then a simple stepper motor.",
"parent_id": "8189913",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190054",
"author": "Vinny",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T11:45:15",
"content": "Care to share the data that corroborates that?",
"parent_id": "8190011",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190062",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T11:51:08",
"content": "So the “torque loss” is about how much torque can be applied against a holding motor before the rotor deviates by the microstep angle.Read up a bit on FOC, where the goal is to maintain a 90 degree phase shift between the electrical and mechanical electric fields to optimize motor efficiency.FOC is actually about the vector sum of two fields: the rotor field and the torque producing field which are at right angles. What comes out of the sum isn’t necessarily at 90 degrees all the time. Full FOC can do both orientations at once, which is the case with induction motors where you need to excite the rotor with something. With PMSM (BLDC) motors you might apply a field for or against the magnets and alter the Kv constant of the motor on the fly for more torque or more speed. The resulting sum will not be at 90 degrees.But yes, a simple BLDC controller will just attempt to shift the magnetic field 90 degrees ahead of where the rotor is pointing, and will continue to accelerate until the motor runs out of torque and can’t speed up any more.",
"parent_id": "8190011",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190027",
"author": "dekutree64",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T10:24:01",
"content": "The problem is backlash. Inkjet printers only need to move in one direction until it’s time to zip back across and start the next line. 3D printers are constantly changing direction so you’d have to use software backlash compensation, but that requires tuning, and causes a small time delay during the backlash take-up move which would show up in the print.",
"parent_id": "8189893",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190078",
"author": "hjf",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T12:11:38",
"content": "not really.inkjet printers use an absolute linear encoder ..open the lid and you’ll see a thin transparent band with tiny vertical bars along its entire length. this is the encoder and any backlash or overshoot is compensated by the printer with no calibration required.printers have incredibly good accuracy especially considering their price, and the wild speeds they can handle. and they’re also super quiet.",
"parent_id": "8190027",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190177",
"author": "Daid",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T14:17:20",
"content": "The linear encoder is used to time the dropping of ink, as that can be extremely precise controlled. Even if the motor is a bit slower/faster, the linear encoder ensures that drops drop when they should drop.With 3D printing, life isn’t that simple, extrusion doesn’t start/stop on a whim.",
"parent_id": "8190078",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190150",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T13:52:48",
"content": "i agree that backlash is why we don’t see more gears in 3d printers. And i agree that it’s hard to compensate for. But once compensated for, i don’t think it has any real disadvantage. That’s just one of the cool things about computer control that i think is often under-appreciated. In antiquity, the mechanical defect had an unavoidable consequence. But with suitable computer control (e.g., in audio, “DSP”), some defects can actually genuinely be compensated for and then it isn’t a factor anymore. It does have a cost in some % of overhead — reduced speed or torque or what-have-you, but within those limits, compensation really works.",
"parent_id": "8190027",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189897",
"author": "Vik Olliver",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T05:26:30",
"content": "The fun part comes when you use precision rotary encoders to accurately microstep stepper motors…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189905",
"author": "helge",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T05:39:12",
"content": "no HaD search results for S42B so far.. not quite precision encodee, but good-enough?https://youtube.com/watch?v=eM8zSG8fEkk",
"parent_id": "8189897",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189945",
"author": "Vik Olliver",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T06:54:25",
"content": "Oh, you can do quite a bit finer. Excellent work by Diffraction Limited herehttps://youtu.be/MgQbPdiuUTw",
"parent_id": "8189905",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189950",
"author": "Peter",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T07:05:00",
"content": "Or you can go Prusa style and get a precision microstepping with an accelerometer.",
"parent_id": "8189897",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190012",
"author": "paulvdh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T09:13:24",
"content": "Some older projects that do this are the Ananas Stepper and Mechaduino. In the years after that running FOC algorithms with position feedback has become quite common.Also, if you want to use the “bigger” stepper motors (Nema 23 and up) then “closed loop” stepper motors are quite common, and I highly recommend to pay a bit more for motor and driver sets that are closed loop. They run much quieter with less heating and they have a higher (peak) torque.",
"parent_id": "8189897",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190199",
"author": "Then",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T14:47:31",
"content": "Just connect a servo to a servo, near instant direct control )with some losses :p)",
"parent_id": "8189897",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190026",
"author": "C",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T10:08:01",
"content": "Was watching the 5:27 mark of the video: the coils of a BLDC motor are NOT wired in series. They are wired in star or delta.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190059",
"author": "had37b8e5c7066e",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T11:49:42",
"content": "how is delta not in series?",
"parent_id": "8190026",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190074",
"author": "zbuser",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T12:10:17",
"content": "Coils in a delta configuration would be in series if you disconnected one node and then applied a voltage across all three. This never happens though, because you never want all three coils at the same voltage at the same time. I think the video meant that the coils in each phase are wired in series, but tbh I didn’t even bother to watch it yet.",
"parent_id": "8190059",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190108",
"author": "C",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T13:07:06",
"content": "Because there are leads going to the inverter. That’s where the current comes from. He draws it like the current flows in a circle. Current through one coil can be zero while the other two are nonzero. He left out the leads.",
"parent_id": "8190059",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190058",
"author": "Vinny",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T11:48:30",
"content": "There’s also another issue: generally speaking the most common 3D printer firmwares out there does not support FOC. There is some work ongoing to add support on Klipper, but it depends on a special Trinamic/Analog Devices driver that does all the FOC stuff in hardware.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192116",
"author": "lupo",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T07:49:41",
"content": "As long as the servo supports a step direction/interface they can be used with any 3D printer mainboard (the TMC4671 does support it). You wouldn’t be able to configure it directly in Klipper like TMC stepper drivers, but if there is a demand support will come.You could even use a separate microcontroller to run something like OpenFOC and add a step direction/interface.",
"parent_id": "8190058",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190066",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T11:55:58",
"content": "BLDC motors using FOC for positioning are essentially very coarse but finely microstepped stepper motors.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190114",
"author": "mrehorst",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T13:12:42",
"content": "I tried using cheap IHSV servomotors in my 3D printer but was never able to achieve resolution that could match the original steppers, even with a 4:1 belt/pulley reduction added. It sure was quiet though! There is Chinese software available for tuning the motors, but no explanations or even a diagram anywhere that I have found that one could use to understand what the various tweaks do. The motors have a 1000 line optical encoder to monitor position.I use IHSV motors in my sand table and they are great! It doesn’t need the resolution that a 3D printer does, and the speed and quiet are much better than you can get with steppers. AFAIK, my table is the only one on the planet that uses servomotors. It can run up to 1600 mm/sec with 20 tooth drive pulleys. If I used bigger pulleys, it could go even faster.See:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ5lE-RGFmwhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdU3paCtPmA",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190172",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T14:14:57",
"content": "I still don’t like the “BLDC” nomenclature, and maybe i’m just missing something.A brushless motor is just a (usually coarse) stepper, and generally requires 3-phase AC.. You can get a variety of kinds of controllers (DC->AC inverters) for it. If you control it with the simplest inverter, and integrate the inverter in the motor assembly, then the assembly becomes a drop-in replacement for DC motors and it’s handy to have this name “BLDC”. But themotoris still a brushless motor and the ability to draw DC is an attribute of the assembly. I don’t like this nomenclature but it has a logic to it.But then you add this FOC controller, why is it still called BLDC? Does the FOC controller itself feed a second inverter? Is it chained inverters?? What makes it DC? Seems to me like once you introduce FOC, you’re now interacting with the controller as a controller instead of as a simple DC current sink, and it loses any meaningful “DC”ness.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190215",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T15:14:52",
"content": "Yep. It’s a PMSM motor then. The fact that you feed it DC at the supply side is no longer very important as every inverter drive has a DC stage before the inverter output. A “pure” BLDC motor is just emulating the brushes of a brushed DC motor with fixed timing, while a FOC controller is a full inverter driver that could run synchronous permanent magnet motors, or induction motors, or even synchronous reluctance motors – it’s just a difference in assumption in the calculations about what generates the rotor field and what to do with it. FOC is a more “universal” control method, while the BLDC setup is particular to a specific type.",
"parent_id": "8190172",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190334",
"author": "paulvdh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T18:13:47",
"content": "BLDC motors run on (usually) three phase AC, but they are called a BrushLess DC motor, because the behavior of the motor is (nearly) the same as from a brushed DC motor. That is the Torque versus RPM relation ship, high input torque with high start current (if it’s not kept in bounds by the controller), and a pretty linear relationship between voltage and RPM, and between current and torque (when simple 6-step commutation is used.)For BDLC versus PMSM. There is no big difference. Some say that BLDC has trapezoidal phase voltages, while PMSM has sinusoidal voltages (when run at a steady rpm, for example when driven externally), but in reality this difference is too small to distinguish them. And when a BDLC motor is used mainly for power output (i.e. 6-step drive) then you can use either motor with such a motor driver.BLDC tends to be optimized a bit more for power delivery (i.e. a quad copter propellor) while PMSM is more intended for accurate positioning (CNC machines, robotic arms). But when you go in the direction of more accurate control with for example FOC, then you can compensate for the differences in the control algorithm. Whether you use simple 6-step or FOC does not matter for the motor. It’s still the same motor. FOC is just a fancy algorithm to get better control and efficiency over a wide range of torque and RPM.And these days, there are some weirder motors, where permanent magnets are embedded deeper in the rotor. They are still synchronous, but with clever manipulation of the magnetic field the kV of the motor can be manipulated, and these motors can be used to deliver a lot of power over a wider RPM range. This type of motor is (sometimes) used in electric cars. I don’t know if these motors have their own 4 letter (or other length) acronym.",
"parent_id": "8190172",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190421",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T21:46:28",
"content": "A three phase BLDC motor has three hall switches that directly switch in the next phase when the rotor crosses a certain angle. This is what the brushes in a normal DC motor do. It’s simply on/off with no further control over the voltage or current waveforms – so the driving voltage is a square wave and the resulting voltage/current waveform is just whatever happens.A PMSM may be driven like a stepper with no feedback and open loop control, or simple speed feedback, speed and direction feedback, or three phase feedback, with different levels of control over the voltage and current waveforms, different lead/lag angles etc. The BLDC motor in its basic form is one subset of these options.",
"parent_id": "8190334",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190458",
"author": "Anonymous",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T00:09:11",
"content": "Steppers ARE brushless motors.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190757",
"author": "slacker24l7",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T15:18:01",
"content": "somone said it already, but yes, backlash is the problem. it takes time to read the encoder, which takes to to respond to the position which takes time to tell the servo motor to stop. which takes time to stop the motor. this all creates backlash. to “eliminate” the backlash. you have to calibrate all the timing to remove the overshoot. or you can just use a stepper and drive it to exactly where you want it to go. as the stepper doesnt overshoot.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190804",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T18:03:21",
"content": "In the old old days we had to bend our brains into K domain and do crazy calculations to configure motion controller algorithms.Now you just let a neural net play with the machine for 15 minutes.Done.Good work from the last time (circa 1995) the market had irrational exuberance about neural nets.This time is different!The scammers realized they could get away with calling it ‘AI’.Promising PHBs no more surly engineers babbling about ‘laws of physics’.That part is the same as the last 3 AI ‘enthusiasms’, but this time, the PHBs apparently believe them.",
"parent_id": "8190757",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190861",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T21:24:20",
"content": "Backlash is not the correct term, but you already said it: overshoot. Backlash is the mechanical slop in the drive train.Another issue is the resolution of your encoder and the error band you are willing to tolerate. If you want to emulate e.g. 200 steps per revolution, then you’ll need an encoder that does about 2000 positions per revolution and even so you’ll only have +/- 5 positions for half a step of error each way. If you’re thinking about the PID algorithm that has to correct for that error, a difference of “five” is really really coarse and calculating things like velocity based on that is going to result in quantization errors. That means the control algorithm is either going to be slow and careful, or noisy and unstable.With greater resolution in the encoder, and high speeds, your CPU has to count the steps at a much higher rate. You want a hardware counter for that, or else your controller is going to be spending all the time serving interrupts to respond to the signals coming in from the encoders, which might be up in the hundreds of kilohertz. If the interrupts from different encoder channels block each other, bad luck, that’s a dropped step and your count goes off. Now you need a faster CPU.So it’s not so simple to just drop in a high resolution FOC algorithm to existing hardware. You want a dedicated FOC controller, one for each motor, that can take in the encoder feedback and react to it properly. Those cost much more than the $5 stepper drivers you can use with simple step/direction control.",
"parent_id": "8190757",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191617",
"author": "Erich Lerch",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T13:33:16",
"content": "Hello Dude. You have summarised the above discussions very well and accurately. I have been in the small motor business for 30 years now. For me, it is still not entirely clear whether linear drives such as X-Y-Z drives for 3D printers, stepper motors or position-controlled BLDC motors are the better choice. Stepper motors have a quasi-integrated gearbox. However, they must be able to deliver and maintain the required torque. Depending on the number of steps per revolution, the maximum speed is then limited (depending on the driver voltage). However, in order to achieve good control behaviour with position-controlled BLDC motors, the motor must be oversized. It must have enough torque to quickly correct position errors. This makes the motor larger and thus also increases the rotor inertia, which in turn requires more torque to be able to react quickly. It’s a vicious circle. Twenty years ago, I initiated a bachelor’s thesis that was supposed to investigate how much a DC motor or BLDC motor should be oversized in order to achieve good control behaviour. This work did not produce any results at the time. Does anyone know whether this has been systematically investigated in the meantime?",
"parent_id": "8190861",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191098",
"author": "gr4viton",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T09:56:03",
"content": "Ok, if you do not want to skip a step, and backlash is also unacceptable, why not to ditch also the rods and in delta configuration use the rope-driven Capstan Drive – like those from Aaed Musa?would there be any advantage, or is it incompatible.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,407.942116
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/08/where-is-mathematics-going-large-language-models-and-lean-proof-assistant/
|
Where Is Mathematics Going? Large Language Models And Lean Proof Assistant
|
John Elliot V
|
[
"Machine Learning",
"Software Hacks"
] |
[
"interactive theorem provers",
"large language models",
"mathematical research"
] |
If you’re a hacker you may well have a passing interest in math, and if you have an interest in math you might like to hear about the direction of mathematical research. In a talk on this topic [Kevin Buzzard], professor of pure mathematics at Imperial College London, asks the question:
Where is Mathematics Going?
It starts by explaining that in 2017 he had a mid-life crisis, of sorts, becoming disillusioned with the way mathematics research was being done, and he started looking to computer science for solutions.
He credits Euclid, as many do, with writing down some axioms and starting mathematics, over 2,000 years ago. From axioms came deductions, and deductions became mathematical facts, and math proceeded in this fashion. This continues to be the way mathematical research is done in mathematical departments around the world. The consequence of this is that mathematics is now incomprehensibly large. Similarly the mathematical proofs themselves are exceedingly large, he gives an example of one proof that is 10,000 pages long and still hasn’t been completely written down after having been announced more than 20 years ago.
The conclusion from this is that mathematics has become so complex that traditional methods of documenting it struggle to cope. He says that a tertiary education in mathematics aims to “get students to the 1940s”, whereas a tertiary education in computer science will expose students to the state of the art.
He investigates the effect “computer as calculator” has had on mathematics since the middle of the 20th century, stating that it is less than you might have thought. More recently though we have large language models (LLMs) giving us “computer as generator of mathematics” and interactive theorem provers (ITPs) as “computer as checker of mathematics”, both being new ways to use computers for mathematics research. He notes that each of these technologies have flaws and that neither has, so far, told us anything profound which we didn’t already know. As he puts it mathematics has not seen a “
Deep Blue moment
“.
The point is then made that the problem with LLMs is that they hallucinate statements which introduces errors and the problem with ITPs is that all the code needs to be hand-written by humans. He floats the “no brainer idea” of combining LLM tech with ITP tech, the LLMs can propose mathematics and the ITP can verify it.
He concludes with the idea that LLM + ITP is the best future for mathematics, enabling mathematics to go from “mostly right” to “definitely right”.
If you have a passing interest in math you might also like to read
Getting The Most Out Of ISM Transceivers Using Math
and
Design Scanimations In A Snap With The Right Math
.
| 31
| 9
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8189919",
"author": "Derek Tombrello",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T05:55:57",
"content": "Yeah… he lost me with 2+2=5",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189924",
"author": "John Elliot V",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T06:05:00",
"content": "Yeah I don’t get that t-shirt. Anyway. You might prefer this one:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOYcPkBaotg",
"parent_id": "8189919",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189999",
"author": "Luke",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T08:28:15",
"content": "Ah, looks like it’s a Thing (I wasn’t aware)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_%2B_2_%3D_5",
"parent_id": "8189924",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190029",
"author": "160zc",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T10:26:43",
"content": "It’s sometimes true. Depending on what 2 you are talking about. Not true for integers. Sometimes true if the numbers have been rounded, and are at the higher end of what we round to 22.4+2.4=4.8Round to one significant figure.2+2=5",
"parent_id": "8189919",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190115",
"author": "albertron",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T13:13:21",
"content": "You can’t apply rounding to the operands prior to computation, only the end result.",
"parent_id": "8190029",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190375",
"author": "Steven Clark",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T19:53:53",
"content": "The idea is you don’t know the precision of the data you are given. So adding two data points that are ‘2’ could give you a real value if you added them physically of somewhere between ‘3’ and ‘5’.",
"parent_id": "8190115",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190383",
"author": "Anonymous",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T20:05:37",
"content": "You can’tBut he did!",
"parent_id": "8190115",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190756",
"author": "Aknup",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T15:14:07",
"content": "No he didn’t, he rounded the end result and did not do so ‘prior to computation’Incidentally, two units of 1.5 plus two units of 1 equals 5 units, shipping is free, local taxes may apply.",
"parent_id": "8190383",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190401",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T21:04:35",
"content": "It’s operator overloading.You are all assuming scalar Cartesian addition.Granting ‘2’ is a scalar, fancy math uses jargon and conventions that they make up as they go along.",
"parent_id": "8190115",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190695",
"author": "C",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T11:47:30",
"content": "1.5 + 1.5 = 3So by your logic 2 + 2 can be [3,5] if the numbers were rounded for writing down but not for addition. Ignoring there are also different types of rounding.You are basically redefining the addition operator by adding a deround functionality.What you want can be done by extending the numbers with tolerance. You can use square, gaussian or, any other distribution forcthat tolerance. Or simply leave out distribution:2+-0.5 + 2+-0.5 = 4+-1Another way is to note the numbers are rounded:2.— + 2.— = [4,6)",
"parent_id": "8190029",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190248",
"author": "kgsws",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T16:11:13",
"content": "Two plus two ..┌─┐┌─┐├─┤├─┤└─┘└─┘equals five.┌─┬─┐├─┼─┤└─┴─┘If you count squares.",
"parent_id": "8189919",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190682",
"author": "D",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T11:00:29",
"content": "It’s actually 3+3 not 2+2",
"parent_id": "8190248",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191131",
"author": "kgsws",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T12:45:41",
"content": "Squares, not rectangles.",
"parent_id": "8190682",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190694",
"author": "C",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T11:35:57",
"content": "That’s not addition but addition PLUS merging.",
"parent_id": "8190248",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190367",
"author": "JTV",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T19:35:48",
"content": "I believe the idea was to acknowledge the misconception that LLMs always produce factual mathematical statements.",
"parent_id": "8189919",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190442",
"author": "Derek Tombrello",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T23:27:52",
"content": "I’ve seen too many people in the past few years trying to claim that “yes, 2+2 does equal five” to where that was my first thought. I can see your (and possibly his) way of looking at it, though.",
"parent_id": "8190367",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190469",
"author": "LordNothing",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T01:14:39",
"content": "big brother is watching you play with your noodle.",
"parent_id": "8189919",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190769",
"author": "acoustician",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T16:02:06",
"content": "In decibel arithmetic, x + x = x + 3 dB.So 2 dB + 2 dB is actually 5 dB.",
"parent_id": "8189919",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190859",
"author": "Clemmitt Sigler",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T21:17:48",
"content": "It’s an old mathematicians’ joke: 2 + 2 = 5 for very large values of 2C",
"parent_id": "8189919",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190064",
"author": "Elliot Williams",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T11:51:29",
"content": "Theorem provers are great because they work well with what traditional computers do best: combining many different truth values together. Good for verification, but not for innovation.LLM’s aren’t really good at innovation either, unless you set their temperature up high, but that’s got a negative effect on the truth value of what comes out. To get something new, you have to take less probable tokens and just roll with it.So the idea of combining with a solver sounds good, but it’s also a little bit like adding a proofreader to the infinite monkeys working on Shakespeare. I’m not 100% sure it’s a good use of either the monkeys’ or the proofreaders’ time, but I guess it’s better than just letting them go wild? If they are all willing to work for bananas?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190151",
"author": "Aknup",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T13:53:37",
"content": "I don’t really use chat, but image generation with AI is most fun when it gets a bit weird I find.Realistic and compliant to reality is a bit boring, we already got that.The fun part is if the elements are real-ish but the image is weird.I guess Dali would have agreed.But does that apply to LLM? I mean if you have it write a story or script then I guess you would want some interesting plot twists and not ‘bob went to the store and bought some bread’",
"parent_id": "8190064",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190186",
"author": "Spencer Martin",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T14:31:29",
"content": "To be clear, Kevin’s not advocating for using LLMs to do new math – at least not in the next decade or two. I’m not aware of many mathematicians whowantLLMs to make substantial new math. We don’t exactly want innovation here – the beauty and draw of mathematics is not getting answers, but understanding them, so a machine that just spits out answers is no fun. The primary interest right now is in using LLMs to assist with formalizing mathematics in a language like Lean. After all, mathematical proofs are written in natural language, and each field is subject to its own colloquialisms. Authors will omit detailed proofs and indicate the style with which one proves a lemma if it’s a sufficiently standard technique. But these are details that need to be filled in when formalizing a proof.LLMs seem to be pretty good at generating code from natural language when given precise instructions. I suppose this should not be a surprise, given the transformer architecture originated in research on machine translation. So I think there are reasons to be hopeful that this application of LLMs could be productive. The big challenge that Kevin’s identified is that even formalizing statements of theorems can be a large task – the same is true for definitions of mathematical objects. These are instances where, if the LLM hallucinates or makes an error in translating, the theorem prover cannot automatically catch this error and any formalized proofs building off of these flawed definitions are useless.",
"parent_id": "8190064",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190755",
"author": "Aknup",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T15:08:17",
"content": "Our planet already has a superior resource to do new math surely, called ‘The Chinese’.Also available on most all foreign universities.",
"parent_id": "8190186",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190179",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T14:21:58",
"content": "My understanding is that this is similar to how many modern chess engines work. A neural network and a correct analysis step work in tandem. The neural network performs a qualitative assessment much faster (or with more subtlety, take your pick) than the correct analysis could. And then the correct analysis uses that to decide which branches are worthy of correct investigation. A composite heuristic.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190896",
"author": "TARIK M HOSHAN",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T23:23:18",
"content": "Totally agree. The stockfish approach is probably how it will be done.",
"parent_id": "8190179",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190192",
"author": "Dimitri William Ponirakis",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T14:36:20",
"content": "You should watch this:https://youtu.be/oOYcPkBaotg?si=Q7HLlBjqFt2wH1ZV",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190323",
"author": "5re6u4e",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T17:54:35",
"content": "solution exist from 30 years. mizarhttps://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Mizar",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190397",
"author": "Benjamin Goldberg",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T20:47:07",
"content": "This makes a lot of sense.Proof assistants like lean, coq or mizar all take as their inputs formal proof languages which are far more verbose and tedious than textbook math proofs.Using an ai to translate a proof written by a human in a textbook into a program to be read by a formal proof checker is going to take far less time than having humans translate.Similarly, asking a language model to explain in math-ese a formal digital proof in lean is going to be faster than reading the program and trying to read and understand the code.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190399",
"author": "Anonymous Coward",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T20:56:09",
"content": "A few months ago Terrance Tao live streamed himself doing a proof in LEAN and using an LLM based coding assistant to do as much of the work for him as he could get it to do. If I remember correctly, he initially made lots of progress letting the coding assistant do most of the work, then got stuck had to reread and get a better understanding of what was being done in the proof attempt, and then redirect it in the correct direction. I suspect that is where LLM + ITP mathematics is going. It will help you make progress on the small details but it won’t get you to the completed proof without sufficient understanding.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190684",
"author": "Jesse Alama",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T11:08:42",
"content": "My experience is similar to Tao’s. I use Claude Code to assist me with Lean proofs. It’s true that Claude rarely comes up with genuinely new ideas for how to tackle a proof (though I have seen that, in small doses), it does a great job of turning my paper-and-pencil proof sketches into working Lean code, and if the first version of the code doesn’t work, it’s usually able to correct type errors and flesh out proofs in a second or third round. I’ve even had the experience of Claude repeatedly struggling to get a proof over the finish line, despite much assistance from me, leading me to eventually realize that there was an assumption missing in the theorem I was proving. Claude has also found outright inconsistencies (not just typos) in my formalizations.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191340",
"author": "Milton Ponson Jr",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T00:40:25",
"content": "As a mathematician myself I must disagree. The future isn’t LLM +ITPs, but a combination of philosophy, mathematics and engineering with a large sprinkle of computer science.After all artificial intelligence is NOT equivalent to machine learning and deep learning.My personal motto is “Nulla veritas sine arte” and curiosity, creativity and the sense of wonder and discovery of artful patterns in nature is not easily replicated in (sentient) machine intelligence.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,408.108719
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/08/the-entire-process-of-building-an-open-source-analog-asic/
|
The Entire Process Of Building An Open Source Analog ASIC
|
John Elliot V
|
[
"hardware"
] |
[
"adc",
"Analog ASIC",
"custom hardware",
"magic",
"open source",
"xschem"
] |
Our hacker [Pat Deegan] of Psychogenic Technologies shows us
the entire process of designing an analog ASIC
. An ASIC is of course an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit, which is basically just custom hardware. That’s right, “just” custom hardware.
Services such as those from
Tiny Tapeout
make it possible to get your hardware designs built. And tools such as those found in
Tiny Tapeout Analog Design VM with Skywater 130 PDK
make it possible to get your hardware designs… designed.
In the video [Pat] takes you through using
xschem
(for schematic capture) and
magic
(for physical layout) to design a custom ADC. We learn that when it comes to hardware you have the choice of many different types of FETs, and not much else. Capacitors are expensive and to be avoided. Inductors are verboten. Getting specific values for things (such as resistors) is pretty much impossible so you generally just have to hope that things come out in relative proportions.
[Pat] credits
Webinar – Analog schematic capture & simulation with Stefan Schippers
for teaching him how to use the aforementioned tools. Both xschem and magic are customizable using the Tcl scripting language which [Pat] used to set things up to his own taste.
We have heard from [Pat Deegan] in recent history, he’s the guy who published the
considered KiCad shortcut keys
and he has a
KiCad mastery course which is available for free
.
| 6
| 3
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8189843",
"author": "Truth",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T03:17:38",
"content": "I’ll leave this here:https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2F40wmtsswwrsf1.pnghttps://old.reddit.com/r/RISCV/comments/1nwhz28/waferspace_7k_usd_for_1k_custom_chips/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190196",
"author": "Dodo",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T14:45:16",
"content": "Surprising they don’t offer a packaging service as well. This is not a small R&D MPW run where you get 20-50 parts. Anyone making use of this will almost certainly need to contract some other company to have the dies packaged.",
"parent_id": "8189843",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190269",
"author": "Adrian",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T16:42:19",
"content": "There is some discussion about packaging in the recent episode of the Amp Hour:https://theamphour.com/703-building-wafer-space-with-tim-ansell/TLDL: they are working on options for packaging, including chip-on-board from JLC and alike.",
"parent_id": "8190196",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191394",
"author": "anfroholic",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T05:19:26",
"content": "Some packaging solutions are being designed. There is an option to have your dies wire bonded to a COB (ChipOnBoard) that can be added to your PCB. DIP, and castellated and others are being floated as options.",
"parent_id": "8190196",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190118",
"author": "tony",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T13:16:40",
"content": "So cool!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190258",
"author": "DerAxeman",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T16:30:32",
"content": "You can do capacitors in analog ICs you just have to make trade offs. Capacitors take space but you can leverage the Miller Effect to reduce the area required at the expense of power consumption. Small inductors are also possible but are very difficult to get right and can create cross talk issues.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,408.153186
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/08/honoring-the-legacy-of-robert-murray-smith/
|
Honoring The Legacy Of Robert Murray-Smith
|
Tom Nardi
|
[
"News"
] |
[
"mental health",
"Robert Murray-Smith",
"suicide",
"suicide prevention"
] |
We at Hackaday are deeply saddened to learn of the
passing of Robert Murray-Smith
. The prolific experimenter had spent over a decade on YouTube, creating more than 2,500 videos where he gleefully demonstrated his seemingly endless collection of homemade contraptions. At least eighteen of which ended up on the pages of Hackaday since we first crossed paths with him back in 2013.
Like many of you, we were also shocked to find that Robert made the decision to end his own life. As cliché as it might sound, he simply didn’t seem like the type. His demeanor was always boisterous in his videos, exhibiting an almost child-like joy as he showed off his latest creation with a laugh and smile.
But as explained by his brother Dave in the brief announcement video posted yesterday, his outward appearance was a well-rehearsed mask that covered a deepening depression. Regular viewers of Robert’s videos knew he lost his wife, as he
shared a memorial video for her in April of 2024
. What he was less open about with his viewers was his own health, which it turns out had been rapidly declining for the last few months.
We now know that simply getting up and walking around had become painful for Robert, a fact obscured by the fact that most of his videos saw him seated at his workbench or in the back garden. That he was able to continue making so many videos at all speaks not only to his passion for technology and engineering, but the great love he had for the community that he’d built.
From the video we also learned that Robert found it very difficult to discuss his declining mental and physical health with friends and family. For men of his generation, the “strong and silent type” was often the ideal. Given all that he was going through, nobody could fault him for experiencing a sense of hopelessness, and yet his brother explains that Robert would never admit to the difficulties he was facing. Whenever pushed to talk about his feelings, he’d respond with that phrase which we’ve all heard (and maybe used once or twice) —
“I’m fine.”
Because of this, Robert’s family has partnered with the suicide prevention charity CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) to try and raise awareness about men’s mental health. They ask that anyone who wishes to honor Robert
make a donation to CALM
, in the hopes that they can help others who may find themselves in a similar situation.
It’s no great secret that many in the hacker and maker communities face their own daily struggles. Whether it’s from being neurodivergent, or the inability to fit in with mainstream society. Several of the staff here at Hackaday are from marginalized groups, and even among those who aren’t, let’s just say we have it on good authority that most of them didn’t get to sit with the “cool kids” back in high school. We also know that, just like Robert, many in the community find it difficult to communicate with others about how this impacts their mental health.
The lasting legacy of Robert Murray-Smith will of course be his incredible body of work, which will continue to inspire millions of viewers. But we can also honor him by making sure that we’re looking out for the well-being of friends, family, and even ourselves.
There are resources available
, and there’s no shame in asking for help when you need it.
| 51
| 39
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8189692",
"author": "yo",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T21:11:33",
"content": "RIP, this morning was a real shock",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189701",
"author": "Miroslav",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T21:31:35",
"content": "Rest in peace, good man.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189702",
"author": "KT",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T21:31:35",
"content": "Oh dang, he had such an infectious curiosity, he will be missed, RIP.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189738",
"author": "make piece not war",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T22:49:55",
"content": "This was one of the unknown (to the general public) giants on which shoulders the civilisation will rise tomorrow.The thinkers, thinkerers and hackers tend to get away from the social life and get lonely sometimes both because we are built differently and because we enjoy doing what we do a bit to much.Nobel, Tesla are known examples.Instead of being cherised we’re getting exploited then thrown away when job is done or we are no longer useful or simply kept at a distance for being freaks.RIP in a place where the fire inventors, the first wheels makers, the first stone thowers are gathering to talk about those amaizing things they have discovered.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189927",
"author": "ncmncm",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T06:13:29",
"content": "The most neglected pioneer per unit merit, was George Westinghouse. General Electric promoted Tesla and Edison for commercial reasons, but Westinghouse was more worthy of emulation. Charles Proteus Steinmetz deserves study too, and Jagadish Chandra Bose, and Oliver Heaviside.",
"parent_id": "8189738",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190272",
"author": "C Kyte",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T16:51:16",
"content": "what a special soul he was and will be deeply missed. I hope his wife’s with him now!!! Her passing broke this legend of a man",
"parent_id": "8189738",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189745",
"author": "ehrichweiss",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T23:16:11",
"content": "I was floored when I heard this yesterday. I have to say that I did almost expect it though because when Patti died, it was 100% clear he was gutted. When he returned his first video made it seem like “we’ll see how long I can do this to occupy my mind” kind of thing but then he seemed 99% back to the person he was; the first warning sign. That said, I get it and I probably wouldn’t respond much different if truth be told.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189764",
"author": "That's on a need to know basis",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T23:52:57",
"content": "Thoughts and prayers for this man. I’ve never watched his channel but I am praying for him. I can only imagine how painful it must have been for him to lose his wife while getting sick himself… I hope and pray that others going through similar struggles can still find joy in this life.Rest in peace Robert.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189795",
"author": "ImFine",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T01:07:32",
"content": "I’m fine too – f***ing incapable of naming emotions.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190210",
"author": "Seth Akers",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T15:05:58",
"content": "No need to be a dick",
"parent_id": "8189795",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190476",
"author": "BrightBlueJim",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T01:31:54",
"content": "Damn Insensitive Cabbage Killer? No, that can’t be right.",
"parent_id": "8190210",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190825",
"author": "Henj",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T19:01:07",
"content": "I don’t think you are being a dick, try to open up sometimes",
"parent_id": "8190210",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189799",
"author": "Gustav",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T01:27:36",
"content": "Very very sad. I only started following his channel after his wife’s death, and it was clear he was grieving, but this is a shock. What an open hearted man he was",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189841",
"author": "Christoph Voigt",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T03:12:50",
"content": "Farewell, Sir! His universal interest in the natural sciences, his palpable desire to share this interest with others, and his belief in the principle of empowerment were childlike and highly contagious in the best sense of the word. Truly sad news…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189855",
"author": "deL",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T03:39:33",
"content": "An enlightened thinker, who set the bar very high. What a splendid legacy he’s left us.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189862",
"author": "Grant",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T04:00:10",
"content": "Dearest Robert, May you find your repose. You offered so much yet asked so little. Those that followed you from the beginning knew you may not have been the sharpest tool although you knew how to sharpen them. For you are as socratis you bring the better out in people. Provoked other than mass thinking and consumption. You sir ARE a light that cast few shadows. May you still watch over us. G.G.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189890",
"author": "Ivan Rogoz",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T05:15:57",
"content": "RIP",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189911",
"author": "Mark Gering",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T05:47:33",
"content": "As a dumb Yank, I just loved this colorful and charismatic Brit Robert Murray Smith to death. From his large output of videos about graphene and graphene battery research that he was involved in pursuing, to his more recent output on all manner of DIY topics that might be of interest to we hands-on types of all stripes, he was such a great and generous presenter and teacher. You felt that the world around us was much more interesting, beguiling, and yet more comprehensible and understandable than one might presume, all due to his uniquely prescient and clear presentations of all of the phenomena and tools that might be brought to bear to apprehend the world around us. He left even Canadian youtubers in the dust.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189918",
"author": "shavermcspud",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T05:54:41",
"content": "As a long time watcher of his channel I am deeply saddened to read of his passing. I never expected to wake up to read this today. Only a few days ago I watched his last video saying he was making no more, I didn’t think this was the final outcome. How very sad. Rest in peace fellow tinkerer.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189928",
"author": "Jasper",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T06:18:54",
"content": "Whenever I watched one of his videos I always got the urge to get tinkering, he spoke about his projects with so much passion and knowledge. It always felt like you were sitting together at his work benchRest in peace Robbert",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189959",
"author": "Andrew Collins",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T07:17:58",
"content": "Thank you Robert for making a such a big, positive, difference and thank you to the other commenters for finding the words that I can’t",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189996",
"author": "Paul Jarrett",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T08:25:08",
"content": "May you now rest in peace Robert.Thank you for educating, entertaining and inspiring us; your legacy will continue to do so…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190006",
"author": "Johnu",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T08:51:15",
"content": "Eccentric British blokes in sheds have made some great contributions to humanity. He seemed like a very affable, smart, and curious chap.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190021",
"author": "Bob the builder",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T09:59:49",
"content": "Oh no, not him.I watched so many of his videos. I learned so much from him. This was an incredibly smart man that created amazing videos. I love watchinig his videos for his passion and was always amazed by the quality of his work. Even things I would never replicate are just interesting because of how he made them and how he spoke. Very sad to hear such a great man went trough such pain.I’ll keep his family in my prayers.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190032",
"author": "David Goadby",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T10:30:35",
"content": "Not many stories here make me pause and think like this one has. Someone which a lot of us thought we knew has shown us that the outer shell that many of us also have, is often a mask for underlying mental issues. I was diagnosed with Asperger’s in my late 60’s and it explained so much. I am a classic lone inventor character but I am blessed with a wife who now understands me well enough to know when to intervene. Like Robert my life would be shattered without her. I have made a donation to the charity and hope that I will never need it. To all of us affected by this story, there is hope and try to believe that we are not alone.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190085",
"author": "Yuri",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T12:28:39",
"content": "It’s like all the best of us are leaving lately… may he be at peace and overwhelmed with love from his wife.God bless his soul.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190116",
"author": "robomonkey",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T13:15:11",
"content": "I’ve seen his work on these pages over the years. Sorry to hear the news.As a tribute, add to your copy a list of all his appearances on Hackaday if you could.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190120",
"author": "me",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T13:19:36",
"content": "Don’t want to mess up the mood by being pragmatic, but I’d like to see his family offer a compilation of his videos on physical media (CD, thumb drive), and the proceeds could go to the charity they’ve chosen. That would ensure they were always available regardless of the vagaries of Youtube , etc. I know I would definitely like to have all of them in a medium that didn’t rely on the internet. It seems like all of the knowledgeable older inspirations are going away……..",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190132",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T13:37:50",
"content": "Good idea. I was going to say “But…”, and then realized that the whole (astonishing!) corpuscouldfit on a single USB drive. CDs? Maybe not: that would be a closet full of them.",
"parent_id": "8190120",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190616",
"author": "Elliot Williams",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T07:14:48",
"content": "1) Get good internet connection and a decent hard drive.2) `yt-dlphttps://www.youtube.com/@ThinkingandTinkering`3) Go out to the shed for a cup of tea. 2,400 videos will take a while.",
"parent_id": "8190132",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190669",
"author": "Rick",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T09:47:46",
"content": "4) Receive an IP-ban from Google. They probably investigate those bans by hand and if you have a (mostly) static IP they will ban all your Google Accounts too.Happened to me when I tried to download “danooct1” channel. Susan’s reign was a mess but new CEO really tightened the screw on ad-blockers, yt-dlp and apps like revanced.Lesson learned: don’t use gmail for any essential services.",
"parent_id": "8190616",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190171",
"author": "J",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T14:14:38",
"content": "I’m in tears, you will be missed Robert, thank you for all the inspiration and charisma over the years. You are such a huge influence to me and so many others. I think I have been watching your videos for about 5 years now and it was always a honor to learn from one of the best teachers around. 🙏RIP",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190181",
"author": "chris0x00",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T14:25:19",
"content": "It would be much appreciated if a HaD staff member could apply the robert-murray-smith tag to those other 18 known articles Tom mentioned as well. It would make it easier for me to figure out where I’ve seen his work before.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190213",
"author": "Seth Akers",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T15:10:45",
"content": "This, please. I second the motion",
"parent_id": "8190181",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190230",
"author": "Tom Nardi",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T15:32:49",
"content": "Good call, I’ve gone back and tagged them now. Also went through and normalized his name across all posts (sometimes he was credited as Robert Smith, sometimes the hyphen in Murray-Smith was omitted, etc) so they should be easier to find via search going forward.",
"parent_id": "8190181",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190569",
"author": "BrightBlueJim",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T05:27:10",
"content": "Thanks for doing this. TBH, while I recognized his name, I couldn’t remember any specific article or video. Now I know.",
"parent_id": "8190230",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190219",
"author": "NS",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T15:22:19",
"content": "Depression is worst than hellFor some people, it is much easier to find a neutrino than it is to find a reason for getting out of bed and live one more day",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190232",
"author": "Seth Akers",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T15:36:14",
"content": "I never knew Robert personally, hell, I only left a comment or two on his videos over the years…but, this has hit me in a way that I didn’t expect. I’m simply blindsided. Even now, several days later, I’m still having a hard time dealing with it.I didn’t expect to be so affected by the loss of someone I’d never met before.He just had such an infectious joy about him, you could tell he had a boundless curiosity, and a deep fascination for the mysteries of our reality.I too am deeply curious and fascinated by the hidden workings of our reality. Even when circumstances broke my mind and sent me spiraling into worsening depression and health, Robert was always there with another video—with his spark—even when I’d lost mine.Requiescat in pace, Robert.You will be sorely missed",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190250",
"author": "chuck",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T16:11:45",
"content": "I’ve been following Rob since way back. I was working on a research project that was making use of graphene oxide, and as some may not know, Rob was actually essentially the world’s foremost GO expert. He made full synthesis videos from start to finish way back before he started posting numbered videos. That was back when I started following him.When I was a kid I wanted nothing more than to be a scientist. I wanted to be the guy in the labcoat inventing things, so I went to school and started working towards that. Of course, the reality of what academia actually was hit me like a freight train. I didn’t want to spend my entire life groveling to professors, administration, and government to fund research I didn’t actually care about. It was right at that point that I found Rob’s channel (then called FWG, I believe). His love for the science was so infectious that it reminded me that what I actually wanted to do didn’t need academia. He was truly in it for the love of the game.Call it parasocial, but this news is hitting me harder than it should. I only ever chatted to Rob once or twice. I wish I had done more. He actually had a real, measurable impact on me.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191633",
"author": "Archivort",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T13:52:45",
"content": "Graphene and conductive ink videos. Already miss him. :(",
"parent_id": "8190250",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190273",
"author": "C Kyte",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T16:52:36",
"content": "its affecting alot of people i bet. He was special and will b sorely missed",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190276",
"author": "Sam",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T16:56:55",
"content": "This is terrible. I will really miss him. I’ve watched hundreds and hundreds of his videos. I hope they will be archived somewhere. There’s really no one else on the planet that had such a wide ranging set of video’s of this sort.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190368",
"author": "ialonepossessthetruth",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T19:35:51",
"content": "Never heard of him. But his death diminishes me. Safe home, Mr. Murray!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190567",
"author": "hottractor",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T05:22:04",
"content": "Well said Tom.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190658",
"author": "Grateful to be here.",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T09:03:47",
"content": "I just had an awful feeling when I watched him announcing it was his last video. RIP Robert.There is no shame in being not OK, I speak as someone who’s lived miserably, made plans with intent but I am incredibly lucky to have a fantastic support network who saw me even though I’d not seen them.https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help/contact-samaritan/talk-us-phone/https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/mental-health-services/where-to-get-urgent-help-for-mental-health/http://www.papyrus-uk.orghttps://andysmanclub.co.uk/https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/guides-to-support-and-services/seeking-help-for-a-mental-health-problem/mental-health-helplines/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190722",
"author": "Fred Good",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T13:23:38",
"content": "Robert, I hope that you have found peace, your videos have shown me the joy of discovery.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190729",
"author": "David Hodgetts",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T13:50:47",
"content": "Robert was a man full of ideas which he researched, built and shared. Just imagine what the world would be like if everyone approached life like that.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190799",
"author": "Tony M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T17:42:44",
"content": "No one asked us to come to life,how possibly that coulld be? anyone is tellling us what to do with our lifes, what not to do, what to believe and what is good and bad.But we have the right and choice of decide when to leave. He had what it takes. Peace to the fallen.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191246",
"author": "Joe Williams",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T19:42:03",
"content": "What a shame…RIP Robert, you’ll be missed.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191631",
"author": "Archivort",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T13:51:12",
"content": "Thank you Robert for the many years of exploration.You will always be remembered by those you have infected with your curiosity.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191648",
"author": "Stef",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T14:14:46",
"content": "I’m gutted, what a genius, but I get it, I count myself fortunate as I reached out for help some years ago, but the dark days are still dark, I’ve learned to look for the chink of light and count my blessings, their are always a few, unfortunately I’ve lost many a friend and too many others I’ve known over past 66 years who have taken this route. I’m in no position to say anything other than, talk to someone and reach out for help. It is available. Even for us neutodivergents ;)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,408.241735
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/13/give-your-microscope-polarized-5-shades-to-fight-glare/
|
Give Your Microscope Polarized $5 Shades To Fight Glare
|
Maya Posch
|
[
"Tool Hacks"
] |
[
"glare",
"microscope",
"polarizing film"
] |
Who doesn’t know the problem of glare when trying to ogle a PCB underneath a microscope of some description? Even with a ring light, you find yourself struggling to make out fine detail such as laser-etched markings in ICs, since the scattered light turns everything into a hazy mess. That’s where a simple sheet of linear polarizer film can do wonders, as demonstrated by [northwestrepair]
in a recent video
.
Simply get one of these ubiquitous films from your favorite purveyor of goods, or from a junked LCD screen or similar, and grab a pair of scissors or cutting implements. The basic idea is to put this linear polarizer film on both the light source as well as on your microscope’s lens(es), so that manipulating the orientation of either to align the polarization will make the glare vanish.
This is somewhat similar to the use of polarizing sunshades, only here you also produce specifically the polarized light that will be let through, giving you excellent control over what you see. As demonstrated in the video, simply rotating the ring light with the polarizer attached gives wildly different results, ranging from glare-central to a darkened-but-clear picture view of an IC’s markings.
How to adapt this method to your particular microscope is left as your daily arts and crafts exercise. You may also want to tweak your lighting setup to alter the angle and intensity, as there’s rarely a single silver bullet for the ideal setup.
Just the thing for that shiny new
microscope under the Christmas tree
. Don’t have a ring light?
Build one
.
| 5
| 3
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8192309",
"author": "anon",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T14:33:54",
"content": "I am confused. I thought this was a sudo hoax thing a few years ago that EEVblog demonstrated.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvFf9RSJUhkIs there a difference here that I am missing? NWR loves to make joke stuff from time to time so I assumed that was this without much thought so happy to be wrong.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192319",
"author": "alialiali",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T14:44:23",
"content": "Only watched the first 5 minutes of the EEVBlog video so I’m not sure where it ends up.This is absolutely not a hoax.The setup without the filters effectively sees a mix of the two pictures – everything is scattered and everything is crystal clear. The result is hard to make out.Filtering the light and then filtering the view lets you pick for what’s optimal.So the “hoax” part is that the before shot is worse than the plain view you have – but we all know alser etched parts are hard to read usually you can read part of it and then have to move it to read the rest.The non-hoax part is that when you filter light and lens you genuinely can rotate it for a crystal clear view usually.",
"parent_id": "8192309",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8192320",
"author": "DougM",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T14:46:21",
"content": "Or you can just tilt the chip a little bit.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192323",
"author": "Skwid",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T14:53:25",
"content": "Adapting this to my microphone sounds pretty involved to be honest. Where does one even get a sound polarising film anyway?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192344",
"author": "Andy",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T15:27:09",
"content": "Where to get polarizing film? From a junk LCD or Amazon. Even old things like calculators and cheap digital watches will have polarizing films in them. The stuff is everywhere, or you can buy a filter for a SLR camera or whatever, or even blow a paycheck from Edmonds or ThorLabs. Take your pick. I’ve done this, except for transmissive PLM, for qualitatively identifying certain evil minerals by using the lenses from fishing sunglasses from Walmart. You can get polarizing film if you try hard enough.",
"parent_id": "8192323",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
}
] | 1,760,371,408.748374
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/13/deforming-a-mirror-for-adaptive-optics/
|
Deforming A Mirror For Adaptive Optics
|
Aaron Beckendorf
|
[
"Science"
] |
[
"adaptive optics",
"curved mirror",
"deformation",
"huygens optics",
"linear actuator",
"optics"
] |
As frustrating as having an atmosphere can be for physicists, it’s just as bad for astronomers, who have to deal with clouds, atmospheric absorption of certain wavelengths, and other irritations. One of the less obvious effects is the distortion caused by air at different temperatures turbulently mixing. To correct for this, some larger observatories use a laser to create an artificial star in the upper atmosphere, observe how this appears distorted, then use shape-changing mirrors to correct the aberration. The physical heart of such a system is a deformable mirror, the component which [Huygens Optics] made
in his latest video
.
The deformable mirror is made out of a rigid backplate with an array of linear actuators between it and the thin sheet of quartz glass, which forms the mirror’s face. Glass might seem too rigid to flex under the tenth of a Newton that the actuators could apply, but everything is flexible when you can measure precisely enough. Under an interferometer, the glass visibly flexed when squeezed by hand, and the actuators created enough deformation for optical purposes. The actuators are made out of copper wire coils beneath magnets glued to the glass face, so that by varying the polarity and strength of current through the coils, they can push and pull the mirror with adjustable force. Flexible silicone pillars run through the centers of the coils and hold each magnet to the backplate.
A square wave driven across one of the actuators made the mirror act like a speaker and produce an audible tone, so they were clearly capable of deforming the mirror, but a Fizeau interferometer gave more quantitative measurements. The first iteration clearly worked, and could alter the concavity, tilt, and coma of an incoming light wavefront, but adjacent actuators would cancel each other out if they acted in opposite directions. To give him more control, [Huygens Optics] replaced the glass frontplate with a thinner sheet of glass-ceramic, such as
he’s used before
, which let actuators oppose their neighbors and shape the mirror in more complex ways. For example, the center of the mirror could have a convex shape, while the rest was concave.
This isn’t [Huygens Optics]’s first time
building a deformable mirror
, but this is a significant step forward in precision. If you don’t need such high precision, you can also use
controlled thermal expansion
to shape a mirror. If, on the other hand, you take it to the higher-performance extreme, you can take very
high-resolution pictures of the sun
.
| 1
| 1
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8192207",
"author": "John Garrett",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T11:24:51",
"content": "Similar approach is used in toilet factories to ensure water swirls in the right direction when flushed (according to Coriolis Effect).",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,408.276828
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/13/slm-co-extruding-hotend-makes-poopless-prints/
|
SLM Co-extruding Hotend Makes Poopless Prints
|
Tyler August
|
[
"3d Printer hacks"
] |
[
"coextrusion",
"mixing hotend",
"Multicolor 3D printing",
"multimaterial"
] |
Everyone loves colourful 3D prints, but nobody loves prime towers, “printer poop” and all the plastic waste associated with most multi-material setups. Over the years, there’s been no shortage of people trying to come up with a better way, and now it’s time for [Roetz] to toss his hat into the ring, with his patent-proof, open-source
Roetz-End
. You can see it work in the video below.
The Roetz-End is, as you might guess, a hot-end that [Roetz] designed to facilitate directional material printing. He utilizes SLM 3D printing of aluminum to create a four-in-one hotend, where four filaments are input and one filament is output. It’s co-extrusion, but in the hot-end and not the nozzle, as is more often seen. The stream coming out of the hot end is unmixed and has four distinct coloured sections. It’s like
making bi-colour filament
, but with two more colours, each aligned with one possible direction of travel of the nozzle.
What you get is ‘directional material deposition’: which colour ends up on the outer perimeter depends on how the nozzle is moving, just like with bi-color filaments– though far more reliably. That’s great for making cubes with distinctly-coloured sides, but there’s more to it than that. Printing at an angle can get neighboring filaments to mix; he demonstrates how well this mixing works by producing a gradient at (4:30). The colour gradients and combinations on more complicated prints are delightful.
Is it an MMU replacement? Not as-built. Perhaps with another axis– either turning the hot-end or the bed to control the direction of flow completely, so the colours could mix however you’d like, we could call it such. That’s discussed in the “patent” section of the video, but has not yet been implemented. This technique also isn’t going to replace MMU or multitool setups for people who want to print dissimilar materials for easily-removable supports, but co-extruding materials like PLA and TPU in this device creates the possibility for some interesting composites,
as we’ve discussed before.
As for being “patent-proof” — [Roetz] believes that through publishing his work on YouTube and
GitHub into the public domain
, he has put this out as “prior art” which should block any entity from successfully filing a patent. It worked for Robert A. Heinlein with the waterbed, but that was a long time ago. Time will tell if this is a way to
revive open hardware in 3D printing.
It’s certainly a neat idea, and we thank [CityZen] for the tip.
| 10
| 8
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8192126",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:32:24",
"content": "Heinlein opensourced the waterbed?? How am I just now hearing of this",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192128",
"author": "sweethack",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:33:13",
"content": "I don’t see how you can control the direction of the print for a general model. The geometry of the model forces the direction of the head (on the outline) and you can’t do anything about it. Maybe if the bed had another axis of rotation it would make sense to be able to control the color, and even then, it would be very grayish, like only 1/4th of the hue you’d expect. I guess he should be able to make a better effect by changing the extrusion ratio of the initial filaments (so if he wants yellow, just run the yellow extruder at 100% and the other color at 0%) so the actual color is based on real physical properties instead of a toothpaste trick. When changing color, the bed orientation could be used to start using the paste sooner.There’s something I haven’t understood yet is why the multicolor print don’t poop in the infill area instead of wasting this. I’d have thought it would make the object stiffer since instead of wasted plastic it would be used for stronger parts. And it’s only a software feature not requiring any hardware change.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192181",
"author": "Elliot Williams",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T10:31:26",
"content": "This is an extraordinarily good question.Wild-ass guess: because you’d need to be sure that you have sufficient infill space/distance to get the job done? But then, you could just do layer infill if you needed to, at least sometimes. My guess, though, is that it’s not sufficiently general purpose.Edit: I looked it up, it’s called “purge to infill”. And I was right about it working most of the time. Freaking great idea!",
"parent_id": "8192128",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192258",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T12:54:47",
"content": "Maybe if the bed had another axis of rotation it would make sense to be able to control the color, and even then, it would be very grayish, like only 1/4th of the hue you’d expect.Oh you sweet summer child (-:",
"parent_id": "8192128",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8192154",
"author": "Rogan Dawes",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T09:07:12",
"content": "Very neat idea. One thing he didn’t address, which I clearly cannot be the only one to think of, is varying the extrusion of the different filaments.Reduce the extrusion of one filament to zero, increase the other 3 filaments by 1/3rd to make up for it, and now you have a pie cut into three slices. Similarly for two and even one filament. And of course, any variation in between should also be possible.The comment about laminar flow in the hot end raises the alternative, twisting the flow into a spiral somehow. Depending on how tight the spiral is, you may be able to get filament mixing, or close enough to approximate it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192191",
"author": "Tristan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T10:47:51",
"content": "I wonder how well the result holds up to sanding, the different colors being very close to each other depending on deposition angle.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192192",
"author": "Anonymous",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T10:53:12",
"content": "There is a prior art with rotating nozzle. I also recall also a giant printer with at least 4 if not more hotends and direct drives extruders (i was even using a second motion system top that was moving in the opposite direction to compensate the vibrations due to the heavy tool head).I’m a little mixed with the SLM part because it has a very rough surface and that’s not what you want in there. But there are probably methods to smooth it.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192256",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T12:53:30",
"content": "haha i never heard of bi-color filament before! what a hack! like the self-striping yarn you can buy for knitting projects",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192290",
"author": "heinz",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T13:34:50",
"content": "There already is a rotating nozzle implementation by nozzleboss,that uses the same effect for instant color changes.https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UyP4f2rYaCUand a link to the reddit discussionhttps://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/1eqi4q7/i_built_a_rotating_mixing_nozzle_to_print_with/I also tested rotating the bed instead of the nozzle. This gives you infinite rotation without worrying about cables and bowden tubes, but is slower. (but still looks cool, checkhttps://hackaday.io/project/185758-3d-printer-with-rotating-nozzle)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192308",
"author": "Daid",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T14:29:40",
"content": "Putting prior art on the internet won’t stop a patent from being approved, as the patent process only checks for prior in patents (yes, I know what you think, I think that as well). But it can be used as proof to then fight any lawsuit that the patent would be used in to invalidate that patent.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,408.458826
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/12/making-a-2-transistor-am-radio-with-a-philips-electronic-engineer-ee8-kit-from-1966/
|
Making A 2-Transistor AM Radio With A Philips Electronic Engineer EE8 Kit From 1966
|
John Elliot V
|
[
"hardware",
"Radio Hacks"
] |
[
"am radio",
"Philips Electronic Engineer EE8 Kit",
"transistor"
] |
Back in 1966, a suitable toy for a geeky kid was a radio kit. You could find simple crystal radio sets or some more advanced ones. But some lucky kids got the Philips Electronic Engineer EE8 Kit on Christmas morning. [Anthony Francis-Jones] shows us how to build a
2-transistor AM radio
from a Philips Electronic Engineer EE8 Kit.
According to [The Radar Room]
, the kit wasn’t just an AM radio. It had multiple circuits to make (one at a time, of course), ranging from a code oscillator to a “wetness detector.”
The kit came with a breadboard and some overlays for the various circuits, along with the required components. It relied on springs, friction, and gravity to hold most of the components to the breadboard. A little wire is used, but mostly the components are connected to each other with their leads and spring terminals.
[Anthony] makes the 2-transistor radio, which continues from an earlier 1-transistor radio. The first components wired in are for the front panel: the potentiometer, variable capacitor, and power switch. Next, the spring terminals are clipped into place. The capacitors and resistors are installed. Then the diode is installed. The transistors are installed. The rest of the passive components and the various wires are installed. There is a technique for attaching the wires to the components using small springs to hold the wires in place. Finally, the “
ferroceptor
” is installed, and some batteries.
The whole apparatus is taken outside where a long wire antenna and an earth connection are connected to the circuit, but, alas, there wasn’t much of an AM signal to be received. [Anthony] tries again at nighttime and gets slightly better results, but only marginally.
You were a lucky kid to get one of these back in 1966. Maybe in 1967, you could be a
radio engineer
. If you are impressed with the EE8’s breadboard, you’d probably enjoy making
one of these
.
| 13
| 11
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8192072",
"author": "MH",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T05:34:26",
"content": "I had this exact kit and it’s arguably what set me on the path to be a lifelong EE!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192298",
"author": "mpellatt",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T14:20:50",
"content": "Me too!!!",
"parent_id": "8192072",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192329",
"author": "Observer",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T15:02:43",
"content": "Add me to that list. I also had the Radio Shack 50-In-1 kit, but I actually preferred this one.",
"parent_id": "8192298",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8192083",
"author": "Gabriele",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T06:11:27",
"content": "I was one of the lucky kids thanks to my father. Now I’m a retired electronic engineer but I remember well the Philips game. It all started for me.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192120",
"author": "alloydog",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:00:16",
"content": "Cool! I had a Tandy/Radio Shack one back in the ’70s.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192122",
"author": "Gerard",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:26:28",
"content": "I had all three kits: the diode receiver, the one transistor and this one! This was second half of the sixties. It were starters for me.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192130",
"author": "Tom G",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:36:20",
"content": "I had an EE20, with more components and 20 circuits. I still have a few of the components, plus an EE8 I bought for old times’ sake.The manual was impressive and well thought out. The top half (literally) of the book was theory of the components and how they worked in the circuit. The bottom half was the practice how of to assemble and use the circuit.It struck exactly the right tone, and was a useful “enabler” :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192135",
"author": "Captain Pugwash",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:42:24",
"content": "Had one of these as a 9 yr old. Went on to have a lifetime career in radio engineering, firstly with the British Army, Royal Signals then later with Marconi. Although I later diverted to IT and more generalised electrical work, the start given me by this kit never left me.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192161",
"author": "Edgardo Bier",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T09:41:45",
"content": "I built Heathkit project kits when I studied electronics from a corrrespondence school. That was the National Technical Schools in the USA in early 70s. Two of six projects I built slowly by lessons are a 12-inch B/W television and a 6-transistor radio. The radio started with a crystal receiver, progressed to one-transistor to six. Awesome learning adventure at the time.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192228",
"author": "Milan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T11:55:25",
"content": "I had a Yugoslav version of such a kit when I was 12 or 13 and it surely set me on a path on which I stood my whole life. Now retired, I remember these enthusiastic geeky days with nostalgy.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192238",
"author": "Sarai",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T12:34:23",
"content": "Too funny turned 70 this year I remember one of these and then I went out and built a superheroine receiver. The things you do when you’re stuck in the Northwoods in Michigan a bored 13 year old.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192287",
"author": "rumpel",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T13:28:23",
"content": "…had a Philips “Experimentierkasten” in the 80s, and, of course, Fischer Technik.I can still remember asking a friend whether he’d be doing ICs already since I was still “stuck on transistors”. And, yes, I became an EE at a time when such education was still widely offered here in Germany (“Informationselektroniker”). The modern makey-makey breadboard drawings are kind of saddening, though I appreciate the effort and re-born interest in basic electronics. Anyway, life is not the same after having blown up a 470µF Capacitor on mains (your desk isn’t either).",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192303",
"author": "TerryMatthews",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T14:28:17",
"content": "These and the Radio Shack springy kits were pretty fun. The ones that should (still) be shamed is Tree of Knowledge. It took me a decade to get past that shitty kit with self built breadboard, var cap, var res, and all other 8000 complaints I have about their quality and usability. To this day, if I see one of the Tree of Knowledge kits in a thrift store, I buy it and take it home, take the components out, and throw the rest away so that no other kid out there has to deal with their crap.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,408.506848
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/12/the-singing-dentures-of-manchester-and-other-places/
|
The Singing Dentures Of Manchester And Other Places
|
Jenny List
|
[
"Radio Hacks"
] |
[
"radio",
"radio receiver",
"teeth"
] |
Any radio amateur will tell you about the spectre of TVI, of their transmissions being inadvertently demodulated by the smallest of non-linearity in the neighbouring antenna systems, and spewing forth from the speakers of all and sundry. It’s very much a thing that the most unlikely of circuits can function as radio receivers, but… teeth? [Ringway Manchester]
investigates tales of musical dental work
.
Going through a series of news reports over the decades, including one of Lucille Ball uncovering a hidden Japanese spy transmitter, it’s something all experts who have looked at the issue have concluded there is little evidence for. It was also investigated by Mythbusters. But it’s an alluring tale, so is it entirely fabricated? What we can say is that teeth are sensitive to sound, not in themselves, but because the jaw provides a good path bringing vibrations to the region of the ear. And it’s certainly possible that the active chemical environment surrounding a metal filling in a patient’s mouth could give rise to electrical non-linearities. But could a human body in an ordinary RF environment act as a good enough antenna to provide enough energy for something to happen? We have our doubts.
It’s a perennial story (
even in fiction
), though, and we’re guessing that proof will come over the coming decades. If the tales of dental music and DJs continue after AM (or Long Wave in Europe) transmissions
have been turned off
, then it’s likely they’re more in the mind than in the mouth. If not, then we might have missed a radio phenomenon. The video is below the break.
Dental orthopantomogram: Temehetmebmk,
CC BY-SA 4.0
.
| 17
| 9
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8191920",
"author": "Titus431",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T00:21:24",
"content": "Gilligan, what have you done this time?!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192187",
"author": "shinsukke",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T10:41:24",
"content": "That was my first exposure to this idea as well, Gilligan’s Island. Man, what a show!",
"parent_id": "8191920",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191964",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T02:11:34",
"content": "I had braces when I was a kid. Curious proto nerd-child that I was (and nerdy enough to know FM broadcasts wouldn’t work) I tried to receive AM broadcast signals, even attaching antennas and diodes to the grillwork on my teeth. Nada. Direct audio signals from an amplifier were perceptible, but not “demodulated”.So, stupid kid me thought I should see what a 9 volt battery touched to the top and bottom jaw wires would do. Like Dave Broadfoot used to say,when I regained consciousness…Man, that hurt.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192026",
"author": "f00barbob",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T03:01:49",
"content": "I did something similar but only on one wire (accidentally, tongue-testing a 9V battery)… and that wire was made of nitinol – in addition to the awful electrical feeling and heat, it felt like it was trying to twist my whole jaw…i’m sure the actual force was pretty small, but it was deeply unsettling.",
"parent_id": "8191964",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192041",
"author": "David",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T03:42:28",
"content": "That which does not kill you … gives you stories you can tell for the rest of your life.",
"parent_id": "8191964",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192095",
"author": "IIVQ",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T06:31:09",
"content": "I once stripped a POTS telephone wire with my bare teeth (stupid in itself) … while the other end was already plugged in. 48V. That was quite the “ringer” (and yeah, I know actual ringing voltage is 90V AC, that would’ve tasted more spicy)There was once a webcomic where the protagonist became addicted to licking batteries and had turned over to the BLA (Battery Lickers Anonymous), can’t find it back.",
"parent_id": "8191964",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192138",
"author": "xChris",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:46:10",
"content": "I once tried to strip a thin mains cable of a radio, and just before I bit it, I noticed that the other end was still plugged into the socket.",
"parent_id": "8192095",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192164",
"author": "Glen Hinckley",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T09:57:15",
"content": "I have been shocked by 110 a few times. a photo flash. a few other things, but POTS just hurts.",
"parent_id": "8192095",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8192073",
"author": "Thomas",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T05:37:11",
"content": "Don’t know about teeth, but a ordinary British Telecom coin call box was almost jammed by Radio Ulster’s big transmitter across the road near Lisburn, when I tried to use it at one point. (Maybe 300 m away) . I could just about hear the called person over the broadcast.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192127",
"author": "Aknup",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:32:45",
"content": "Obviously you need to form a crystal receiver with your fillings. That should work by chewing on crystal meth I guess.Did mythbusters ask the people hearing radio if they were on meth?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192230",
"author": "Murray",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T12:04:33",
"content": "Similar, but different.Whenever I suspect a cracked, or lose filling, I wistle through s number of octaves, sure enough, at some point you hit a resonanant point where the sound distortsin your uears, transmitted through the bone.Reliable detection, even when the dentists can’t pick it up yet.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192241",
"author": "Nath",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T12:37:24",
"content": "Sorry if dumb question but what TVI means?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192250",
"author": "Sammie Gee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T12:46:28",
"content": "I think TVI as in “Televisão Independente”, portugese television channel : – ] Ah, that explains a LOT!",
"parent_id": "8192241",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192262",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T12:58:45",
"content": "TeleVision Interference.Back in the good old days of analogue television, ham radio operators sometimes caused interference to the TV reception of their neighbours. Caused by either poor shielding or construction of the TV receiver, poor filtering on the ham’s rig, or (usually) both.More often, just the simple presence of an an antenna caused claimed interference, regardless of whether the transmitter was even powered.",
"parent_id": "8192241",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8192259",
"author": "Sammie Gee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T12:55:02",
"content": "I thought AM and LW were different things, and there could only be only few stations in total on long waves to start with. Both AM and LW travel the globe, when conditions are reasonably good, and I recall there are basically none LW stations left; at least there were none when I’ve listened with one of the old Grundigs years back.Redardless, AM demodulation is reasonably straightfoward, obviously, only the half-wave, and theoretically one can do that with all kinds of stray things connected in unexpected ways, just you have to be somewhere near the transmitter. Don’t expect to catch Radio Havana in Nebraska, for example, though, I suspect Radio Bejing now can be heard from each toaster and fridge :]",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192334",
"author": "Gravis",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T15:15:10",
"content": "People seem to be uncritically dismissing a lot of what people have experienced. I think this is a case of misattributing the source. It’s been known that having filing of various metals can result in an the creation of a battery. It’s also been known that this very low voltage/current battery can cause neurological discomfort. There is little doubt in my mind it can also cause periodic hallucinatory effects or possibly stimulate the auditory nerve.RF may not be the source but that doesn’t mean dental work can’t make you hear things.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192337",
"author": "David Kindltot",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T15:20:53",
"content": "Lucille Ball claimed to have heard broadcasts through her temporary fillings in 1942, which supposedly led to a Japanese espionage ring. Then as now there was a lot of BS to get everyone on board with the war, and a lot of propaganda being pushed by the studios at the request of the feds, so who knows. It might have been true or as fake as a Hollywood marriage.Great story, and about as far fetched as a fox-hole radio using a razorblade and a pencil lead.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,408.559974
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/12/hackaday-links-october-12-2025/
|
Hackaday Links: October 12, 2025
|
Dan Maloney
|
[
"Hackaday Columns",
"Hackaday links",
"Slider"
] |
[
"3I/Atlas",
"biocomputer",
"hackaday links",
"jpl",
"Juno",
"mars",
"nasa",
"NATO",
"neuron",
"organoid",
"Perseverance",
"phonetic alphabet",
"pong"
] |
We’ve probably all seen some old newsreel or documentary from The Before Times where the narrator, using his best Mid-Atlantic accent, described those newfangled computers as “thinking machines,” or better yet, “electronic brains.” It was an apt description, at least considering that the intended audience had no other frame of reference at a time when the most complex machine they were familiar with was a telephone. But what if the whole “brain” thing could be taken more literally? We’ll have to figure that out soon if
these computers powered by miniature human brains
end up getting any traction.
The so-called “organoid bioprocessors” come from a Swiss outfit called FinalSpark, and if you’re picturing little pulsating human brains in petri dishes connected to wires, you’ll have to guess again. The organoids, which are grown from human skin cells that have been reprogrammed into stem cells and then cultured into human neurons, only have about 10,000 cells per blob. That makes them a fraction of a millimeter in diameter, an important limit since they have no blood supply and must absorb nutrients from their culture medium, and even though they have none of the neuronal complexity of a brain, they’re still capable of some interesting stuff. FinalSpark has
a live feed
to one of its organoid computing cells on the website; the output looks a little like an EEG, which makes sense if you think about it. We’re not sure where this technology is going, aside from
playing
Pong
, but if you put aside the creep-factor, this is pretty neat stuff.
We thought once 3I/Atlas, our latest interstellar visitor, ducked behind the Sun on its quick trip through the solar system, that things would quiet down a bit, at least in terms of stories about how it’s an alien space probe or something. Don’t get us wrong, we’d dearly love to have it be a probe sent by another civilization to explore our neck of the galactic woods, and at this point we’d even be fine with it being the vanguard of a Vogon Constructor Fleet. But now the best view of the thing is from Mars, leading to stories about
the strange cylindrical thing in the Martian sky
. The photo was apparently captured on October 4 by one of the navigation cameras on the
Perseverance
rover, which alone is a pretty neat trick since those cameras are optimized for looking at the ground. But the image is clearly not of a cylinder floating menacingly over the Martian surface; rather,
as Avi Loeb explains
, it’s likely a spot of light that’s been smeared into a streak by a long integration time. And it might not even be 3I/Atlas; since the comet would have been near Phobos at the time, it could be a smeared-out picture of the Martian moon.
Part of the reason for all this confusion about a simple photograph is the continuing U.S. government shutdown, which has furloughed a lot of the NASA and JPL employees. And not only has the shutdown made it hard to get the straight poop on 3I/Atlas, it’s also responsible for
the confusion over the state of the Juno mission
. The probe, which has been studying the Jovian system since 2016, was supposed to continue through September 30, 2025; unfortunately, the shutdown started at one minute past midnight the very next day. With no news out of NASA, it’s unclear whether Juno is still in operation, or whether it’s planned intentional deorbit into Jupiter, to prevent contaminating any of the planet’s potentially life-bearing moons, already occurred. That makes it a bit of a Schrödinger’s space probe until NASA can tell us what’s going on.
And finally, are we really recommending that you watch a 25-minute video from a channel that specializes in linguistics? Yep, we sure are, because we found
Rob Words’ deep dive into the NATO phonetic alphabet
really interesting. For those of you not used to listening to the ham bands or public service radio, phonetic alphabets help disambiguate spoken letters from each other. Over a noisy channel, “cee” and “dee” are easily confused, but “Charlie” and “Delta” are easier to distinguish. But as Rob points out, getting to the finished NATO alphabet — spoiler alert, it’s neither NATO nor phonetic — was anything but a smooth road, with plenty of whiskey-tango-foxtrot moments along the way. Enjoy!
| 0
| 0
|
[] | 1,760,371,408.595279
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/12/diy-35mm-film-scanning/
|
DIY 35mm Film Scanning
|
Al Williams
|
[
"digital cameras hacks",
"News"
] |
[] |
If you are sitting on a horde of negatives, waiting for the digital photography fad to die off, it may be time to think about digitizing your old film. [Kinpro1024] can help with the
PiDigitzier
, an open-source film scanning solution. The build centers around a Pi Zero 2, a Pi HQ camera, and a diffusing LED lighting fixture. Of course, there’s also some miscellaneous hardware and a camera lens; the example used a Pentax 50 mm f1.8 lens.
Half of the project is mechanical. An MDF tower provides a stable 250 mm workspace and decks that can slide up and down using threaded rods and curtain rods. Apparently, leveling the platforms is important not only for the optics but also to allow the MDF to move along the rods without binding.
On the software side, some Python software orchestrates the capture and builds a high-resolution scan by combining three different images from different positions. As you might expect, though, the image stitching doesn’t occur on the Pi.
[Kinpro1024] has only scanned black and white film so far because the LEDs have a poor color rendering index. If you wanted to scan color film, you may have to experiment with better lighting or software correction. The camera’s rolling shutter also causes some issues if the LEDs don’t hold their intensity through the entire scan. You could, of course, replace this with a global shutter camera.
Stray light can also be a problem. Ideally, you’d use bellows like a big camera, but if that’s not available, you can wing it with some homemade light baffles.
If you decide you want to try color, you will
be interested in this project
. You might also think of raiding the kids’
Lego box
.
| 19
| 5
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8191813",
"author": "Evan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T20:26:51",
"content": "I’ve never understood the concern with high CRI for scanning film. Color film is essentially an RGB technology. Ideally you’d use an RGB backlight with wavelengths chosen that give you the strongest contrast between color channels – ie pick a color of red that your red (cyan) layer blocks most strongly and your green (magenta) and blue (yellow) layers pass through most unaffected. Pick a green and blue wavelength similarly, combine together into an RGB backlight, and you’ve got an ideal backlight for film scanning which would have an awful CRI.Chances are, any random narrow-band RGB LED is closer to that ideal than a wideband white light.There are films with extra color layers, like Fuji Superia 200, that might work better with 4-wavelength illumination or broadband illumination.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191823",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T21:13:36",
"content": "And what happens when your film/sensor combination doesn’t work with that narrow band light very well this time? High CRI = reliably work with anything, and usually the scan comes off the machine looking good with basically no post processing, where your system you are going to have put in effort to get every colour channel to be roughly right for every single roll of film no doubt…",
"parent_id": "8191813",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192085",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T06:14:38",
"content": "In theory high CRI lighting is about to get a lot cheaper, we’ll see how long things take to come to market.In the meantime building your own light sources isn’t actually a bad idea, even for this purpose, s long as it is tunable. Film spectral sensitivity isn’t linear, the information it carries shifts with age to a degree, (also non-linearly) and every vendor is different.e.g. a simple high CRI scan will give you a “good” picture, but not the best. It’s our job to throw together something fun that can, ideally with some degree of automation.",
"parent_id": "8191823",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192096",
"author": "Dan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T06:34:34",
"content": "Could you please elaborate on high CRI getting cheaper?",
"parent_id": "8192085",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192111",
"author": "hugh crawford",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T07:24:10",
"content": "Tungsten, or whatever other black body radiator light source, can be pretty cheap, but back in the 1970s narrowband RGB lighting for color film reproduction was worth spending a lot of money on. Minolta had a gas discharge tube enlarging head that was coveted.Once you have something on film, having more that three discrete wavelengths of light just makes things more difficult. Even lens design is easier without correcting for the in between wavelengths.When film dyes fade, the wavelengths don’t shift, the density fades.",
"parent_id": "8192096",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192114",
"author": "Dan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T07:33:43",
"content": "Thanks, Hugh, I appreciate the answer but I was more specifically asking what S O meant by“In theory high CRI lighting is about to get a lot cheaper, we’ll see how long things take to come to market.”",
"parent_id": "8192096",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8192197",
"author": "Frando",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T11:13:39",
"content": "The problem is, you’re mixing things up: Back then, the RGB lights were used for photo-chemical reproduction! The chemistry was adjusted for this process and vice versa. Therefore of you want to reproduce a negative (e.g. as a positive print onto Photo-sensitive paper), RGB IS STILL A THING. But: even though modern displays still work with RGB light sources, the sensors have not the same sensitivity to the different wavelengths as the photo chemistry. They’re basically monochrome sensors, which get color filters on them and artificially create color bases on which filter lets through how much light. This technology still works best with natural light of a broad spectrum, because their whole internal colour science (which is software, not chemistry) is designed for this. You always have to adjust your light source for the medium onto which you want to reproduce it to.Easy example: You always shot Portraits on film with studio flash lights. Your system worked well. Would it still make sense to use those studio flash lights if your sensor is made for Infrared? No, you use IR lightsources instead.",
"parent_id": "8191813",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191822",
"author": "macsimki",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T21:13:10",
"content": "cri is not the problem, but lack of contrast is. a bw negative has a decent contrast, but colour negatives don’t. the camera module is configured for a 6 stop contrast difference, but a colour negative only has about 2 or 3 stops. so if you take a 8 bit camera, only about 5 bits are used. the resultic “scan” will miss a lot of colour and contrast info.but then again, something is better than nothing.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191831",
"author": "UnderSampled",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T21:28:52",
"content": "Every film scanner I’ve used has a second pass with an IR LED to capture a map of surface dust to remove from the final image.",
"parent_id": "8191822",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192081",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T06:03:45",
"content": "This is way less common than you imply. Most “film scanners” are just a tray on a conventional scanner, sometimes even an inferior one.",
"parent_id": "8191831",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8192082",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T06:06:57",
"content": "Scanning anything is more nuanced than this. Those stops are not a hard limit. Among other things you can tease out A bit more information related to the actual spectral sensitivity of the film, which isn’t linear either. It’s not a digital medium, don’t treat it like one.",
"parent_id": "8191822",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191842",
"author": "BT",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T21:39:43",
"content": "I scanned 50 years worth of my parents’ color slides. The ones on Fujifilm were fine but on some of the cheap no-brand slides the colors were wrong – often red had faded or was missing. I discovered that converting those slides to b&w on the computer made them look perfectly presentable again {but b&w of course.)Mentioning this in case anyone else encounters this – if I had not discovered the b&w trick quite a few would have been lost.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192087",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T06:19:32",
"content": "If only certain spectra are weak, you can try selectively enhancing the contrast of just that colour. Note Ididn’tsay “channel” because we’re talking about film chemistry. It’s likely the loss of red isn’t the only thing wrong. For a quick hack just try out manipulating the red colour channel to see if there is anything there in your scans.",
"parent_id": "8191842",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192316",
"author": "Bill",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T14:42:33",
"content": "We scanned my parent’s slides, dating back to the early ’50s. The Kodachrome ones were fine, but The Ektachrome (and similar processes from other companies) were badly faded. It’s interesting that your Fuji ones were still fine.",
"parent_id": "8191842",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8191867",
"author": "JRD",
"timestamp": "2025-10-12T22:27:48",
"content": "I’ve never liked “one-shot” film scanners that use a single “diffused” light source, because that light is never diffused enough. There’s always a “hot spot” brighter in the center than the edges. If a pure gray negative–or no negative–is scanned and brightness plotted as a 3D height, you’ll see a “hill” at the center. At any rate it’s not flat. Theoretically you could do a “flat-field” compensation to the scan like NASA does, but I’ve never been able to get it to work. I prefer a flatbed-type scanner: an evenly-lit 1-D sensor light that scans down the negative building the 2D image at the cost of time.At least in the SF Bay Area, the local libraries have recently gotten flatbed slide and negative scanners, so good film scanning is now available free to the public as long as as you get in line.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8192089",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T06:22:22",
"content": "Very few film or photo scanners do that, even high end drum scanners for film use a thin emitter and sensor to avoid this very problem.",
"parent_id": "8191867",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192113",
"author": "hugh crawford",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T07:32:30",
"content": "The lens itself has a “hot spot” no matter how even the light source is. That’s simply how lenses work. Chemical photography equipment and photographers compensate for that.",
"parent_id": "8191867",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8192125",
"author": "Chris",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:30:59",
"content": "I was very happy with my “diffused” light source and compared to the quality of the old negatives or sildes it did not really matter ;-)In my case the results were very good. (https://hackaday.io/project/174961-one-week-build-slides-digitizer)",
"parent_id": "8191867",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8192146",
"author": "Pete A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-13T08:55:40",
"content": "You’re all over-thinking this. The digital camera sensor itself has RGB microlens filters with a fairly narrow bandwidth. They’re fixed, and additional RGB filtering is unnecessary and might even degrade the results.I’ve scanned hundreds of slides and colour negatives, using a variety of methods and light sources – flash, white LEDs, etc. None of them resulted in colour that couldn’t be well corrected with a white-balance tweak.Colour negatives are a category all to themselves though. Through trial and error I’ve found that negating the orange mask with a physical (optical) blue filter makes the reversal and channel balance much, much easier and straightforward.You can ‘get rid’ of the mask using the camera white-balance, but you lose digital bit-depth in the capture by doing that.Anyhow, the subject of camera ‘scanning’ has been discussed and beaten to death on many photography fora: Notably in Photo.net where it has its own thread under Scanning and Scanners –https://www.photo.net/forums/forum/55-scanning-scanners/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,408.651596
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/04/how-to-design-custom-lcds-for-your-own-projects/
|
How To Design Custom LCDs For Your Own Projects
|
Lewin Day
|
[
"Misc Hacks"
] |
[
"display",
"lcd",
"segment lcd"
] |
These days, you can buy full graphical LCD or OLED displays for just a few dollars. However, if you’re so inclined, you can actually get your own segmented LCDs made to suit your own projects.
[Icoso Labs] explains how it’s done,
with plenty of handy tips along the way.
There are three primary things you need to do to design a segmented LCD. First, you need to design it visually, laying out all the individual elements you want on the display. Then you need to determine how you want to split them up into segments. Some elements you’ll just want to be a single monolithic on-or-off shape, while other areas you might want to create things like seven-segment numerals for displaying numbers and so on. With that done, you also need to specify various engineering details—such as whether you want a transmissive, reflective, or transflective display, and thicknesses, colors, and other important things. Armed with all that, you can take your design to a manufacturer and get them to make a bunch for you. Often, there’s a moderately high tooling cost to start a run, but you can then turn out more examples of your design for just a few bucks apiece.
It’s a neat guide to designing something few of us have ever considered sourcing for ourselves. We’ve featured other insights
into the world of segmented LCDs before
, too. Video after the break.
| 9
| 4
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8187781",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T02:52:37",
"content": "Handy if one wants to go for that high-end audio equipment look.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187784",
"author": "Vik Olliver",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T02:58:39",
"content": "Heh, used to design LCDs back in the day. Of course, I never had the right driver hardware. So I would test a victim from the new batch by placing one LCD edge connector on the radiator, holding a strip of conductive rubber with fingers on the other edge, and scuff my feet on the carpet. Static flipped the crystals pretty good…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187844",
"author": "abb",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T08:28:41",
"content": "Initial tooling fee is quoted as around $150, which is much less than I was expecting. Very tempting!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187959",
"author": "Brian",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T15:00:07",
"content": "Wow, I agree. I would have thought a lot more.",
"parent_id": "8187844",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8191184",
"author": "Spehro Pefhany",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T16:50:10",
"content": "I recall getting quotes of $1800 USD NRE plus MOQ of a couple thousand pieces. That was some years ago. It may have gone down, but 10:1 seems unlikely. I really don’t like to mislead suppliers on the potential quantities so they absorb the costs, even accidentally.",
"parent_id": "8187959",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187996",
"author": "David Hoskins",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T17:33:45",
"content": "What’s the minimum run size?",
"parent_id": "8187844",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188243",
"author": "kuro68k",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T13:16:34",
"content": "Typically 1000 units, but some will go lower for a much higher per unit cost, so you might as well order that many. So typical cost will be around $2000.",
"parent_id": "8187996",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189178",
"author": "Julian Skidmore",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T07:33:58",
"content": "I kinda miss starburst LCD displays: they’re enough to do text, but an 8-character x 15 segment display is simple enough to be driven directly by an MCU (120 segments). At $2000 for a run of 1000 units, means text displays for about $2 each. Here the 15 segments are the normal 7 segment digit segments + 6 star segments (I wouldn’t split the middle ‘-‘ segment) and a period segment.If we’re driving it at 50Hz and we have 4x COMs then we need 24 pins, because each COM signal needs 2 pins. We can drive all digit segments at the same time (16-pins), I think. There are 8 states for 4 COMs, so that’s 8×50=400 Hz for the outputs. Or would 8x COMs work with adequate contrast?https://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/aemDocuments/documents/MCU08/ApplicationNotes/ApplicationNotes/00563c.pdf",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190155",
"author": "rnjacobs",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T14:00:31",
"content": "What you have to do varies by multiplex level! Although not-multiplexed would be expensive in terms of I/O drivers, it has the advantage that everything is just always an output. (Drive COM in phase, or opposite phase, of the 120 SEGs – it’s just 122 bits of shift register)I also got good results with a 2-multiplex 2-7segment display and left one COM floating when I was driving the other COM.You’re right that once you hit 4-multiplex you need fancier drive, and once you hit 8-multiplex you really want more expensive chemistry.",
"parent_id": "8189178",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
}
] | 1,760,371,408.326851
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/04/open-source-controller-for-old-and-expensive-industrial-robots/
|
Open Source Controller For Old And Expensive Industrial Robots
|
Maya Posch
|
[
"Reverse Engineering",
"Robots Hacks"
] |
[
"AMD Zynq-7000 SoC",
"robot"
] |
The Zynq-7000 usage at the core of the robot controller. (Credit: Excessive Overkill, YouTube)
Industrial robots like robotic arms are basically everywhere, albeit usually out of the public’s eye in factories. This also means that they get replaced and scrapped all the time, making for many opportunities to snap up an industrial robot that once cost as much as a pretty fancy car for essentially peanuts. Over the years the bloke behind the [Excessive Overkill] YouTube channel did this a lot, which also
revealed the main issue
with these ‘cheap’ robots: the electronics and associated software, with the manufacturer rarely going out of their way to appease to hobbyists trying to fix up one of these units, never mind for free.
That said, if you’re persistent enough, you can reverse-engineer these beasts to the point where you can develop your own controller hardware and software solution. This is exactly what was done, resulting in an open source controller, found on the
ExcessiveMotion GitHub page
, that should allow you to control many of these industrial robots. At the core is a Zynq-7000 hybrid FPGA-ARM SoC chip, running real-time Linux (with preemptive scheduling patch) on the SoC side and custom HDL on the FPGA side to handle the hard real-time tasks.
The controller during testing. (Credit: Excessive Overkill, YouTube)
The controller is made to be modular, with a backplane that can accept various interface cards in addition to the current RS-485 and RS-422 interfaces that are commonly used in industrial settings, such as here for controlling the individual servo drives of the robots. To make assembly and testing interesting, the first controller and integration with a robot was made ready for display at the Open Sauce 2025 event, requiring things to be rushed along, including reverse-engineering the servo protocol for a small-ish industrial robot suitable for public display and use, as well as developing the kinematics for the robotic arm.
With the controller now demonstrated, clearly this is the perfect time to rush out and get one of these fun industrial robots for a few hundred bucks. Currently the controller is still being finalized, with the author asking for feedback on what it should be able to support. If you have a particularly unusual industrial robot lounging around without the requisite controller, this might be your chance to revive it.
Thanks to [Hans] for the tip.
| 18
| 8
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8187721",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T23:39:34",
"content": "What you say is bullshit there’s no cheap used robots in Tajikistan where I live. Keep us-centric stuff to minimum bro.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187736",
"author": "garlicbready",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T00:20:41",
"content": "Its the sort of thing that might crop up on a bidding site now and againHere in the UK for examplehttps://www.bidspotter.co.uk/en-gb/auction-catalogues/ncm/catalogue-id-ncm-au11257/lot-62c7ac66-aae9-434e-acc1-b36a011f9d35https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/267400447595Although I’d admit 2K – 5K is kinda expensive, but something non functional without a control box might be cheaper",
"parent_id": "8187721",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187797",
"author": "paulvdh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T04:04:46",
"content": "It’s not just USA. Here in the Netherlands I once went to a pretty big shop (JansenMachinehandel) that sells second had lathes & mills and they also had a little corner with industrial robots. They were thinking about scrapping them all, as there was very little interest for these things.This was quite a lot of years ago. I just had a look at their website, and they don’t list any. But now there are some companies which are specialized in refurbishing old industrial robot arms to give them a second life.I had to look up where Tajikistan is. Is there even any sort of industrialization in that country? You need a quite big industrial base and for a long time before old industrial robots become surplus. I guess there are plenty too in countries such as Japan, south Korea and Taiwan.I think I saw a bunch of these things in the background when Ca Lem went shopping in a local machineshop. (He’s known for his excellent work on restoring a Schaublin 13 and other video’s). I think he’s from Vietnam, but I’m not sure.",
"parent_id": "8187721",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187800",
"author": "olaf",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T04:13:19",
"content": "I can understand that. My company scraped a robot arm a year ago and it was possible for me to take it at home. But I said no, because I realy did not see any project I can do with it outside of a factory. I understand that there is some fun in it, but the usability is close to zero.",
"parent_id": "8187797",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188172",
"author": "mathman",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T09:24:49",
"content": "Thanks for mentioning Ca Lem.Never heard of him before.Absolutely insane what this guy does.https://youtu.be/DUSLAkFlWqg?si=-h485cqaCPm-glYU",
"parent_id": "8187797",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187801",
"author": "JustSayin",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T04:13:48",
"content": "When a robot arm that originally cost $40-60K can be picked up for $2-4k you can ship them to Tajikistan and still be considered cheap.",
"parent_id": "8187721",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188022",
"author": "LWATCDR",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T19:47:42",
"content": "I can only assume that you are just trying troll. Funny to say the least.",
"parent_id": "8187721",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188048",
"author": "Snide",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T21:56:54",
"content": "Seriously, after reading the wikipedia entry on Tajikistan (which I had never heard of before), I doubt anyone there writes English or visits this site. So what’s your real problem?",
"parent_id": "8187721",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187741",
"author": "Titus431",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T00:31:29",
"content": "Given that Tajikistan ranks 108th out of a field of 139 economies on the Global Innovation Index (https://www.wipo.int/gii-ranking/en/tajikistan), I don’t think the issue is that the article is US-centric.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187939",
"author": "Gibbyofthatilk",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T13:58:56",
"content": "Neat project, but seeing an old robot close (without control barriers) to people makes me jumpy – I’ve seen these go through cars, crush steel fabrications, and the generally destroy whatever’s in their oopsie point path.Humans are squishy – even the modern ones won’t know they’ve shattered your chest until after the fact if it’s running anywhere close to the speed it’s meant to (and usually does) run at.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188283",
"author": "blueninja",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T15:37:31",
"content": "If you watch the video you’ll see that he put up some quite extensive safety including sensors that shut off power if a person goes past areas.",
"parent_id": "8187939",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188024",
"author": "LWATCDR",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T19:52:48",
"content": "Sounds like a busness opertunity. If they are stiil working except for the contoller just update the controler. Of couse that assumes that you follow all saftey regulations and follow a good set of Code styles and rules like MISRA for C or F-35 for C++.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188058",
"author": "hugh crawford",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T22:51:13",
"content": "Well if you turn it into a gun, it would be exempt from safety regulations, so compliance is just a solenoid, a shotgun, and some hose clamps away.When I was in art school, I had a proposal to get a robot arm and attaching a chainsaw to it and carve those chainsaw bear sculptures that you see at county fairs.I thought it would strike a nice balance of ridiculous and terrifying.Oh yes, this was going to be in a darkened gallery with the only light source being a spotlight attached to the arm itself.Perhaps I will look into that again",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188881",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:13:07",
"content": "The only terrifying part of a chainsaw on a robot arm is ‘art school’.I’m all for it!Darwin’s little helper!",
"parent_id": "8188058",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188996",
"author": "Philip McCoy",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T22:58:12",
"content": "Make it a strobe light!",
"parent_id": "8188058",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188870",
"author": "abjq",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T19:01:25",
"content": "Just stay out of the killzone",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190077",
"author": "Tom Allen",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T12:11:07",
"content": "I absolutely love this project and that it will open up a world of DIY hacker robotics (not just arms, lots of industrial tech, like none functioning industrial CNC machines) but I also worry that if everyone knows about it the lots will start attracting more bids! Haha need to buy them all up before anyone knows they are no longer a dead end project. Massive respect to this guy for doing the very hard route and supporting 100% open source! Legend in the game",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8191100",
"author": "Don",
"timestamp": "2025-10-11T10:06:15",
"content": "Is there a way to contact ExcessiveMotion / Excessibe Overkill?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,408.709553
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/04/3d-printing-a-cheap-vr-headset/
|
3D Printing A Cheap VR Headset
|
Lewin Day
|
[
"3d Printer hacks"
] |
[
"head tracking",
"headset",
"virtual reality",
"vr",
"vr headset"
] |
The modern era of virtual reality really kicked off in earnest just over a decade ago, when the Oculus Rift promised 3D worlds beyond your wildest dreams. Since then, nobody’s been able to come up with a killer app to convince even a mild fraction of consumers to engage with the technology. Still, if you’re keen to tinker, you might like
to make your own headset like [CNCDan] has done.
The build is based almost entirely on 3D-printed components and parts sourced from AliExpress. It offers 2880x1440p resolution, thanks to a pair of square 1440×1440 LCD displays, one for each eye, paired with a couple of 34 mm lenses. The headset has adjustable interpupiliary distance so you can dial the view in to properly suit your eyes. The 3D-printed housing is designed to be compatible with headrest pads from the HTC Vive Pro for comfort’s sake. Head tracking is also available, with the inclusion of an IMU and an Arduino onboard. [CNCDan] apparently put the build together for under $150, which is not bad compared to the price of a commercial off-the-shelf unit. Files are
on Github
for the curious.
[CNCDan] reports good results with the DIY headset, using it primarily with his racing simulator setup. He has had some issues, however, with his LCD screens, which don’t properly run at a 90 Hz refresh rate at full resolution, which is frustrating. It’s an issue he’s still looking into.
We’ve seen some other neat VR builds over the years, too
. Video after the break.
| 22
| 5
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8187580",
"author": "Sven Hapsbjorg",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T20:17:56",
"content": ">good results>LCDs don’t work properlyPick one.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187591",
"author": "G-man",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T20:28:25",
"content": "I’d happily watch ReadyPlayerOne at 60Hz on something like this rather than give Meta access to my entire world for the priviledge.As my gaming is keyboard & mouse, a headset won’t be happening.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187851",
"author": "Jackcaos",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T08:48:20",
"content": "You do know that meta is not the only VR headset producer, right? Right?",
"parent_id": "8187591",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187977",
"author": "G-man",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T15:55:35",
"content": "Vive Pro2 £450Apple Vision Pro £3500Valve Index VR Headset £1500Meta Quest 3S £290You’re going to show us one that’s cheaper now…",
"parent_id": "8187851",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188084",
"author": "RaoulDuke",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T01:37:24",
"content": "Does buying it second hand and pirating everything count as cheaper?",
"parent_id": "8187977",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188244",
"author": "Bob the builder",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T13:21:39",
"content": "xreal air 2, 246 pounds.",
"parent_id": "8187977",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187727",
"author": "limroh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T23:53:18",
"content": "It offers 2880x1440p resolution, thanks to a pair of square 1440×1440 LCD displaysis that how the resolution of VR headsets is “counted”?To me this is is “just” 1440×1440 since neither eye can see the other’s display (or can it?).",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187746",
"author": "Piecutter",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T00:39:30",
"content": "Perceived resolution. Your own optical processors in your eyes and brain will add the two views together to create an enhanced horizontal resolution.",
"parent_id": "8187727",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187818",
"author": "CityZen",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T06:17:36",
"content": "They’re referring to the rendered resolution, which is also split into 2 1440×1440 views.Or you could say they’re referring to the HDMI signal resolution.",
"parent_id": "8187727",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187886",
"author": "RiCHeeGee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T10:56:42",
"content": "The image is rendered at 1440×1440 per eye, there is some overlap in the middle (where what is displayed is seen by both eyes) but extended to the left and right for each respective eye. So the perceived resolution is somewhere approaching 2880 horizontally.The lenses will also cut out some of the usable resolution but this is less of a factor these days with the use of wider elliptical lenses that maximize fov width.",
"parent_id": "8187727",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187980",
"author": "SteveL",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T16:04:05",
"content": "No, but your eyes aren’t independent organisms. Both of them belong to you, so you can see all 2880×1440 pixels at once",
"parent_id": "8187727",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188405",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T21:05:09",
"content": "well it certainly matters for the content input. If you’re producing video for it you have to render out the full 2880×1440 frame… Even if it is almost the same picture duplicated twice side-by-side.",
"parent_id": "8187727",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187776",
"author": "Brian",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T02:39:17",
"content": "“nobody’s been able to come up with a killer app to convince even a mild fraction of consumers to engage with the technology.”So… Literally nobody uses VR?9.6 million VR headsets shipped globally in 2024. Are they in every household? No. But that’s definitely at least a mild fraction of consumers.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187805",
"author": "Miles",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T04:44:31",
"content": "The killer app is mods like UnrealVR for Satisfactory.Also this headset is ‘neat’, but a Quest 2 or Rift S is only $80-120 these days.",
"parent_id": "8187776",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187821",
"author": "Anonymous",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T06:56:56",
"content": "My biggest issue with getting a Quest is figuring out how to de-Facebook it.",
"parent_id": "8187805",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187943",
"author": "JohnEdwa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T14:16:41",
"content": "If you only want to use it for PCVR, you create a new blank Meta account (which is renamed Oculus account, not a Facebook one) so the software agrees to open and you can set the headset up, and then really never interact with it ever again. But in reality, you can’t, Meta sells them at cost/loss in exchange of (trying to) locking you to their walled garden and looking over your shoulder at all times.",
"parent_id": "8187821",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187862",
"author": "spiritplumberspiritplumber@gmail.com",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T09:16:20",
"content": "Millions of consumers also invested in fidget spinners, incl. various “pro”, “extreme” or “sports” models 🤡",
"parent_id": "8187776",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187889",
"author": "RiCHeeGee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T11:04:07",
"content": "It’s still a niche (compared to the flat screen gaming market) but it’s far from dead, PCVR usage has diminished but standalone VR usage has seen large relative increases – far beyond the drop off on PC.Quest 3 has led to a decent increase in quality of standalone games too – standalone is affordable too.VR isn’t going away but it’s also unlikely to hit Fortnite numbers in terms of player base due to space constraints.",
"parent_id": "8187862",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187879",
"author": "shinsukke",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T10:03:52",
"content": "A good VR dating sim would be worth its Megabytes in dollars",
"parent_id": "8187776",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187887",
"author": "RiCHeeGee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T10:59:16",
"content": "Indeed! I have 4,000 hours in VR between Steam, Oculus native PC apps and Oculus standalone. There has been a sharp drop in PCVR users, especially in games like Pavlov and Contractors but there has been a much larger increase in standalone VR users.",
"parent_id": "8187776",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188407",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T21:06:33",
"content": "I work in VR. Literally nobody uses VR, including some people who work in VR. It’s frustrating.",
"parent_id": "8187776",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187998",
"author": "chris",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T17:38:33",
"content": "love the techno DIY sentiment but a bit of misdirection here. you can buy a used Quest3s for £125 which probably represents the most / best technology for the least price in history ! as a standalone machine with advanced handtracking, it’s unbeatable. as a wireless PC headset it’s pretty advanced. honestly, the reason most people haven’t got into VR is that alot of people don’t know how good it is yet / or they just aren’t interested or can’t deal with full immersion. it’s quite full on if you’re not used to it. mixed reality table tennis on Quest 3 is amazing. There are some stunning apps & games out there. I recorded my kids using 3d video on a quest 3 .. it’s amazing & the new hyperspace app let’s you scan any environment/ room in a ridiculously high level of detail. VR is in its infancy. I’m sure it will continue to bubble up until one day, it will be super normalised",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,408.808308
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/04/serial-and-updi-handled-together-with-one-convenient-circuit/
|
Serial And UPDI Handled Together With One Convenient Circuit
|
Lewin Day
|
[
"Microcontrollers"
] |
[
"serial",
"uart",
"UPDI"
] |
Sometimes it’s nice when you can do everything you need to do with just one single port. In this vein, [Nicola Strappazzon] whipped up a circuit
to combine serial and UPDI programming in a very convenient way.
As an example, [Nicola] demonstrates the concept using an AVR128DA28 microcontroller. It’s paired with a 4052 multiplexer IC and a CH340 USB-to-serial chip. Everything is wired up such that the 4052 acts as a switch for the signal coming from the CH340. When the RTS flow-control signal is set high, it switches the 4052 to hook up the CH340’s RX and TX pins to the UDPI interface on the AVR microcontroller. Conversely, when the RTS signal is set low, the CH340 is instead hooked up to the serial UART on the microcontroller. From there, it’s a simple matter of configuring avrdude to properly set the RTS pin when attempting to program the attached device.
If you’re working with UPDI devices and you want to be able to talk to them and program them with a minimum of fuss, this project might be useful for you.
We’ve looked at dedicated UPDI programmers before, too.
If you’re cooking up your own nifty microcontroller hacks, don’t hesitate to let us know
on the tipsline.
| 8
| 5
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8187507",
"author": "paulvdh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T17:36:35",
"content": "Nice trick, and worthy of publishing.About 20 odd years ago I did something similar with the AVR’s. I made a dip adapter that had both an atmega and an 4052, and I switched MISO / MOSI / SCK between the programming connector and the application, and I switched it with the reset line. (It even was in an official AN from Atmel back then) This way the application had more freedom to use those pins, but you do have to consider the series resistance of the switches. In practice I never made much use of it, as nearly always there are plenty of possibilities to hook up the I/O pins. And a bit similar here. Normally you have plenty of USB ports and an extra CH340 is similar in complexity as adding a 4052. But it’s nice to have options like this.And it could all be integrated into a single uC. I believe some ST-Link programmers already have extra Uart / I2C / SPI wires to communicate with the application. But it’s quite a lot of work to implement an USB device properly on an uC.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187565",
"author": "Christoph",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T19:46:58",
"content": "Did he just reinventTinyUPDI?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187687",
"author": "Chris",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T22:05:46",
"content": "Looks like it. Using RTS instead of DTR",
"parent_id": "8187565",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187787",
"author": "Quinn",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T03:30:53",
"content": "Last updated two years ago, readme in broken English. Pretty understandable reinvention.",
"parent_id": "8187565",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187839",
"author": "uwezimmermann2333651",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T08:07:08",
"content": "I just recently developed a circuit board around the lesser known CH342K which is similar to the well known CH340, but it contains two independent USB-UARTs which show up as two distinct USB devices on the host computer. The board is built so that it snaps into a breadboard and automatically provides USB power (selectable 5V and 3.3 V) to the breadboard’s power rails.It will soon be on github and my own blog.https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1156123319502913597/1423288775496175768/image.png?ex=68e31037&is=68e1beb7&hm=4c87d2a7f05128bfaea428b60388d7ea01a62550596a8e19169f324943e24ee7&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=938&height=793",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187966",
"author": "paulvdh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T15:21:48",
"content": "A while ago (2018) I toyed around a bit with github/satoshinm It uses all three uarts on a Blue Pill (STM32F103) to create 3 serial ports. And all three showed up on my Linux box and I verified it actually works by starting up a few terminal emulators and then adding wires to the breadboard to transmit data between those 3 terminal emulators. I did not do any stress testing.",
"parent_id": "8187839",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188013",
"author": "uwezimmermann2333651",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T18:56:54",
"content": "my previous reply has not been published yet, but my project is on github now:https://github.com/uwezi/AVR-Dx/tree/main/UPDI_plus_UART",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189183",
"author": "Nicola Strappazzon",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T07:38:59",
"content": "The nice thing about sharing is that you learn even more. I didn’t know I had reinvented/improved thetinyUPDI, and that there are other people doing very interesting projects likehttps://github.com/uwezi/AVR-Dx.Thanks to Lewin Day and the Hackaday community!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,408.850142
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/04/how-do-the-normal-people-survive/
|
How Do The Normal People Survive?
|
Elliot Williams
|
[
"Hackaday Columns",
"Rants"
] |
[
"debugging tools",
"newsletter",
"oscilloscope",
"Rant"
] |
It was one of those weeks last week at Hackaday’s home office. My mother-in-law handed me her favorite power bank and said “it’s not charging”. She had every expectation that I’ll open it up, desolder the weary pouch inside, scrounge a LiPo out of some corner of the basement, and have it back up and running before the weekend. And of course that’s what happened, although maybe it looks a little worse for wear because it was hard to open the sealed case without excessive force. Sorry about that!
Then on the weekend, I finally got fed up with the decomposing foam on the face seal on my FPV goggles. It was leaking light all over the place. Of course I could have bought a new seal, but then I’d have to wait a week or so for delivery. So I pulled the velcro backing off, tossed it in the bed scanner, pulled the image up in Inkscape, converted it to Gcode, and cut out a couple seals out of EVA foam on the laser. Not only are they essentially indestructible, but I was able to customize them a little bit, and the fit is now better than ever.
And then, one of our neighbors bought a new garage door fob, flipped the DIP switches into the right configuration, and couldn’t figure out why it wouldn’t open the garage door. Knock knock knock. Using
the tried-and-true RF probe
that everyone with a scope probe has sitting around, namely hooking the ground pin to the tip and putting the radio device in the loop, it was clear that the sense of the DIP switches was inverted from what it said in the instructions. That was a fun little puzzle.
It was the garage door opener that triggered me to think about how normal people would handle any of these situations. “How do the normies even get by?” were the exact words that went through my head. And let’s face it: we’re not entirely normal. Normal people don’t have a soldering setup just sitting around ready to get hot 24/7, or a scope to diagnose a garage door RF transmitter at the drop of a hat. But these things seem to happen to me all the time. How do the normal people survive? Maybe they all know someone with a scope?
I take it as my service to the world to be “that guy” for most of our friends and family, and I pretty much do it without complaint. “With great power” and all that. My wife is just about as gracious when she’s stuck debugging a parent’s Windows setup, so I’m not saying I’m the only saint in the world, either. Surely you have similar stories.
But last week it made me reflect on how good we’ve got it, and that does make me want to pay it forward a little bit. If you’re one of the people who can, try to help out those who can’t.
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
!
| 115
| 35
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8187429",
"author": "J",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T14:04:40",
"content": "My condolences to those supporting family and friends through the Windows 10 EOL.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187449",
"author": "bruno",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T15:24:31",
"content": "windows 10 ?I am still on windows 8.1 for the lone required windows PC. Otherwise it’s all FreeBSD of course.",
"parent_id": "8187429",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187455",
"author": "Steven Clark",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T15:33:32",
"content": "I just shipped my brother a TPM and pages printed from his motherboard manual PDF.",
"parent_id": "8187429",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187478",
"author": "Graf Jalcoza",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T16:14:31",
"content": "At least hopefully not consoling anyone who actively used the AOL dial-up service that just shut down (other than for pure nostalgia)",
"parent_id": "8187429",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187954",
"author": "Ed",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T14:44:31",
"content": "darn, so the account i created in 1996 is now gone? Man that hits hard",
"parent_id": "8187478",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187487",
"author": "Eric",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T16:31:00",
"content": "We survived end of Windows 8.xWe survived end of Windows 7We survived end of Window VistasWe survived Windows MEWe’ll be fine. Windows 10 won’t crash or refuse to boot because Microsoft ended support. People would be on their own if the computer were still connected to the internet and new exploit is found.",
"parent_id": "8187429",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187669",
"author": "PEBKAC",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T21:51:36",
"content": "Meh, they’ll do critical security fixes a couple years more than the official EoL.",
"parent_id": "8187487",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188565",
"author": "elmesito",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T08:22:32",
"content": "I still have a Win 7 laptop that I turn on occasionally to drive some equipment and every time it downloads new security updates.",
"parent_id": "8187669",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187503",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T17:28:41",
"content": "Windows 10? We’re already using Windows 98 here!",
"parent_id": "8187429",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187567",
"author": "Miles",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T19:51:02",
"content": "Win 11 is not that bad, just bypass the CPU and TPM check and mount the 11 DVD in the right-click menu and run the upgrade installer. It will ask you to accept the unsupported update. (It’s really just arbitrary nonsense because the 6th-9th gen Intel were practically the same, some were even the same silicon, and I have 5th gen systems with TPM 2.0).The real trick is de-bloating it to turn off the ads and widgets.",
"parent_id": "8187429",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187593",
"author": "G-man",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T20:30:19",
"content": "Command to use (Chris Titus Tech’s Windows Utility):irm “https://christitus.com/win” | iex",
"parent_id": "8187567",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187758",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T01:21:53",
"content": "There’s also the ARM64 version of Windows 11 that doesn’t have those restrictions.In fact, it can run the most Windows executables.Win32 x86, Win32 ARM, Win64 x86-64, Win64 ARM and.. Win16 via WineVDM. :)Besides Macs with Apple Silicon/Parallels Desktop,there are a few ARM-based mini PCs available that can run Windows 11 ARM edition.ARM might be the future of Windows, eventually. So it’s certainly worth a try.Older versions of Windows IOT and Windows 10 had an ARM port, too.So there are some native ARM applications out there for years already.",
"parent_id": "8187567",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187608",
"author": "Antron Argaiv",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T20:40:01",
"content": "When I got tired of answering my late brother’s calls for help with Windows, I converted him to Ubuntu, and, later, Mint. Calls went from 1 or more per month, to maybe one a year. He was totally computer illiterate, but managed just fine with Linux (after a short adaptation period). The secret was buyimg him a new HDD, pulling his Windows drive out, and telling him he could have it back if Linux didn’t work out. He used Linux happily for about 10 years until his death.",
"parent_id": "8187429",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188158",
"author": "Johnu",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T08:40:31",
"content": "Same here – plus we got another 5+ years out of a PC that Windows deemed should be e-waste.For the family members who just to basic internet + email + office the base install of Mint is everything they need right out of the box and has been seamless for me on multiple installs, even finding & supporting printers that I was sure were going to put up a fight.",
"parent_id": "8187608",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187613",
"author": "Randlin",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T20:43:52",
"content": "Also, you can “upgrade” to Windows 10 IOT for a few more years of support, great for (the few) 32bit machines you don’t want Linux on.",
"parent_id": "8187429",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187782",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T02:54:59",
"content": "Free support for a year without changing version.",
"parent_id": "8187613",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187826",
"author": "Beavis Christ",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T07:36:31",
"content": "The burden of being “the guy”. For me it’s been a reluctant journey, initially for myself out of necessity. And I still refuse to gain any skills or knowledge beyond what is needed or out of personal curiosity.I can probably solve 90% of “normie” tech problems 90% of the time. (Often, by just rebooting their device.) I look at problems as kinda like puzzles and solving new ones adds to my knowledge, skills, ability, etc. So, my growth becomes my payment. I have never charged money (although I have asked for coffee, tacos, and donuts).The boon in this reluctant Hero’s Journey is a bitter understanding of just how terrible all common operating systems are and how/why, in general, they got that way. Computers (hardware and software) are miraculous turds. It’s amazing they even work most of the time.Normies have the benefit that ignorance is bliss (especially if they can blissfully throw money at their tech problems). Being “the guy” might seem cool to outsiders, but having bitten into the Apple of Knowledge brings one the knowledge of sin. If the normies knew how the tech “sausage” was made, they would riot.",
"parent_id": "8187429",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187956",
"author": "Ed",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T14:51:35",
"content": "I have been using Linux for the longest time. As I just bought a new miniPC that came preinstalled with Windows 11, I thought “OK, let me give it a spin”…and within no time I knew again why I dont like windows: there is always something popping up on screen. and just when you need to finish something in a hurry, it comes with a mandatory update of something",
"parent_id": "8187826",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187435",
"author": "Zmar",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T14:19:15",
"content": "I find that the existence of “that person” is exactly why I’m reading hackaday. I’m pretty much here to educate myself about all these things that us common people, wouldn’t understand otherwise without “these persons” ! Blogging is a way to share and educate people from their qualifications. It passes on good knowledge.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187436",
"author": "JanW",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T14:28:52",
"content": "But there is an ailment that has befallen me, which “normies” go by unaffected: Lots of the stuff (tools / test equipment) that I have gathered will not be used daily and needs some fixing before you can take on the job at hand :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187815",
"author": "alexa_gemini_5o",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T06:06:42",
"content": "This a thousand times. I’m amidst a mass de-clutter and on the tail end of, “Well all my stuff is useful…” is a week straight of identifying and managing necessary repairs & replacements of all the stuff I keep to repair and replace things with. 🤦",
"parent_id": "8187436",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188093",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T02:50:03",
"content": "Yes. It’s both a blessing and a curse. But I think more of a blessing. Compared to my peers, I’m overall better off financially because of it.There are times where I spend hours at the bench working on fixing something of little value, just to finally give up on the mission to repair, cutting my loses. I guess I could say I lost all that time, but I typically always lean something from it.I think for me the hardest lesson is learning to say ‘no’ to others. Ethically I often feel an obligation to help others less enabled. If someone is at least willing to give it their best effort and I know they are working on something just as hard as I would, I will be much more likely to help them. But! If someone asked me to fix something for them, and won’t even put any effort in on their half, I have no problem telling them I can’t help.Part of being good at fixing things is having a strong tenacity or grit to push yourself and your skills hard, past fatigue., to figure things out. The people that often ask. me for help typically don’t have that strong of a drive.",
"parent_id": "8187436",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187437",
"author": "AC",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T14:30:48",
"content": "FAM: “Can you fix my slow laptop? It keeps crashing and is very slow”ME: “OK, so your kids installed software piracy tools which come with viruses”FAM: “Kids say you are wrong, they’re younger and know computers better”ME: (DOES NOT SAY “when I were your kid’s age, I had a job. And the job was with computers. “)ME: “They’re right. All I know are Macs. You’ll have to bring your computer to one of those stores that will clean it up”FAM: “But that will COST ME MONEY”ME: “I only know Macs”.FAM: “Pffft! MACS are a overpriced junk!”ME: (DOES NOT SAY “I drive a 20 year old Toyota Corolla, and you’re on your THIRD BMW. Are you really suggesting I don’t understand practical value?”)ME: “Sure, are but Macs are all I know”. And I repeated this for 11 years since.They make sure I overhear though “We had to buy the kids laptops again this year, Microsoft let a virus on and all the software on it “expired”. Fixing it would have cost half of a new laptop.”People use the cop-out “but you’re smart” as a way to not Google and learn. They presume your time has no cost to you, and that you genuinely enjoy fixing things (in the same way they enjoy binging trash TV).Techies need to show tough love, and say no or feign ignorance.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187442",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T14:43:37",
"content": "Techies need to show tough love, and say no or feign ignorance.That ignorance angle only works when the ‘normie’ isn’t smart enough, or doesn’t know you well enough to know it isn’t true. And saying no just isn’t as easy as it sounds if its going to get your Mother/Wife/Husband/etc nagging at you often as to why you are solving the problems you want to solve but won’t solve theirs or their Mothers/Sisters/etc – usually easy enough to just fix it and saves you so much more grief in the long run.",
"parent_id": "8187437",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187459",
"author": "Rog Fanther",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T15:40:36",
"content": "Or tell the example person to choose if he/she wants to believe their kids or you, and then take the computer to the chosen one to fix. A little bit harsh, but the person was harsh first, when implying the kids understand more than you.",
"parent_id": "8187442",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187490",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T16:48:44",
"content": "Oh in that script I’d just say on line 4 – “well why bother me with this if you already have a ‘solution’ you accept!?” most likely. As if they want my help, probably for ‘free’ they had better be willing to actually accept it.So depending on just how helpful that “FAM” has been themselves or how far I believe they would go should I ever actually need help they are capable of defines the level of patience I’m willing to go looking for – they would either get that first response in frustration at the entitled assumption they have earned my help for nothing, or the ‘Fine leave it with me, I’ll fix it, then once you are satisfied send the Kids to me to learn how to do whatever caused the issue properly”But that still doesn’t solve the problem of nagging from the family member that knows you could fix something and have chosen not to in general.",
"parent_id": "8187459",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187537",
"author": "Krzysztof",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T18:52:44",
"content": "I agree exactly with what you say, just one more take: sometimes people just don’t know how much work fixing this one problem is. They might think it’s something simple, but in reality you need to spend several hours fixing it. If something will take time, tell them how much, you might ask if they would trade some of their free time to you in exchange.",
"parent_id": "8187490",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187576",
"author": "a_do_z",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T20:02:53",
"content": "I’m afraid my line would be, “The kids know computers better than me. That means they will be able to fix it.”The kids saying they know computers better is like someone saying that, because they live in their house, they are better qualified to do plumbing and electrical repairs than a plumber or electrician. Or, because somebody drives their car every day, they know more about it than a mechanic.",
"parent_id": "8187490",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187465",
"author": "G-man",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T15:48:08",
"content": "Similar stories from me except Idosay. If they want my time/effort/knowledge/experience(for free) then they can damn well have my admonishments too.Similar with askholes: “What phone should I get?” then they buy some PoS and need help? No GTFO.",
"parent_id": "8187437",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187467",
"author": "Jouni",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T15:50:16",
"content": "Ahaha! This is sooo true, that’s literally me!Thanks for this, cheered up my evening.",
"parent_id": "8187437",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187477",
"author": "Pedro R",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T16:10:38",
"content": "Entirely agree with the different OS excuse.My relief when all the family got iPhones and stayed with Android (I have Google Pixel, so a quite decent phone).Now I just can’t be of much help.But people figure it out somehowThe article is right but fails to acknowledge one thing: we’re also enablers of these behaviours.If we were not around, they find alternatives, just as you quote people buying new laptops every year -> this is a twisted point though, because commercial shops really take advantage of those who don’t know. That’s unethical.",
"parent_id": "8187437",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187506",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T17:35:51",
"content": "+1At one point in life it’s better to simply pretend to others that you have moved to Linux or Mac and are nolonger up-to-date when it comes to Windows things.It doesn’t even implies lying so much, if you simply adapt your own perception of yourself accordingly. ;)I think that’s the most peaceful way to get out of the affair.",
"parent_id": "8187437",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187843",
"author": "Tom",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T08:24:56",
"content": "“you have moved to Linux ”I have….so not a lie.Call Geek Squad…..you pay them, not me.True story with my wife’s aunt who got the pop up to callM$, and DID AND installed remote software. She called me and I saidunplug, call geek squad. Washed my hands of that disaster.They(Best Buy) sold her a new one and kept the old one…….WOW!I tried to get her on Ubuntu a few years ago….some folks you justcan’t help.BTW—-EVERYTHING she does is web-based,,,,,,,but,,,, “needs M$” —OK?!?!",
"parent_id": "8187506",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187880",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T10:12:15",
"content": "I see. It depends on the people, I guess.Linux is great, because it scares ordinary people off.It’s also known to be very nerdy and complicated,so it is believable to mortals that us weird PC freaks would love to use it.The only exception to the rule is Linux Mint at the time, maybe.I noticed that a lot of boomers seem to like it. It’s the senior’s Linux.It’s the new Lindows, so to say. It’s the Linux that looks/feels like Windows the most.If I had a kind but dumb -err- “simple minded” family member,I would be trying to introduce it to macOS. Either on real Mac or a Hackintosh.Because it’s a compromise, located somewhere between Linux and Windows.It’s easy to use, has an Unix foundation and no bloatware pre-installed.It also has merely little malware compared to Windows.Via MacPorts or Homebrew, many Linux/Posix applications are available too.The downside is, however, that if you’re a Mac user, too, you’re again the #1 person that’s been called for help.But again, if the person is kind and not annoying It’s a risk that could be taken..Otherwise, just let them keep using their beloved Windows (and run for your life).Some people can’t be helped, they’re resistent to any advices.And to make things worse, they’ll blame you for their own mistakes.Sometimes they will even lie in your face.“No, I haven’t changed anything since last time you fixed my PC”.When in reality, new applications had been installed, new restore points had been set and device drivers had been changed.I had such an experience a multiple times.There was that laptop of an elderly couple for example, that I did install Windows 7 on.It was a fresh installation with Firefox and a few basic utilities and basic printer drivers.Not quite two weeks later, I got a phone call about their laptop being broken.Nothing had been done to it, of course.When I checked, it was full of bloatware, big printer suits and what not.As I’ve later found out, one of their boomer friends had been working on it days before I was called.He apparently knew better than me and had to “fix” the laptop..Again: Let them use Windows and run!",
"parent_id": "8187843",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187592",
"author": "Jason",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T20:29:10",
"content": "“If the kids know more, let the kids fix it” would be my instant response. Get up and walk away without another word on the matter",
"parent_id": "8187437",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187659",
"author": "MW",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T21:20:52",
"content": "Similar here. Brother comes to me wanting to buy his first computer, for his business he says (he does construction). I ask him if he wants to do anything else with it. No, just his business he says. Do you want something you can tinker with (he likes to tinker with things, not a problem, hence the question) or something that’ll just work I ask. Something that just works he tells me. OK, go buy an XYZ computer.A month or so later he calls me. Bought my computer, he says. Which model did you get? Oh, I bought an ABC computer from a local clone shop, much cheaper. I ask why he had ignored my advice. The XYZ can’t play my games. Games were not mentioned but I suppose I should have seen that coming. OK, I tell him, you’re on your own. He tells me that he won’t need any help.A couple of months go by. He calls me, tells me his computer isn’t working, and wants me to go by and help him with it. I remind him of our prior conversation and repeat that he’s on his own.Sometimes tough love is the way to handle things.",
"parent_id": "8187437",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187762",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T01:36:19",
"content": "I can relate to that. Years ago a friend of our family asked meabout a new PC for gaming and multimedia and I made a recommendation.This was in the 2000s and I recommended him an Shuttle PC (a barebone PC) with a Pentium IVand a real desktop version of an Nvidia graphics card.Because he wanted a powerful, but compact PC.I recommended the Pentium 4 (I know it was hot) because he was into flight sims and the CPU had a high single-core performance.Which was good, because the simulator was older software and didn’t use threading yet.Anyway, he later had issues with the new PC and it turned out he had bought a cheap net-top PC. A net-top! Laptop hardware in a box!When I asked him why he didn’t follow my recommendation he argued that he did exactly buy what why I told him.This made me very angry, because that simply wasn’t true!Anyway, he couldn’t understand that the Shuttle PC I showed him on a website before was a totally different beast of computer.That’s when I sweared myself to never ever help that guy again in such things.",
"parent_id": "8187659",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187734",
"author": "J ODell",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T00:14:10",
"content": "When MiL needed a computer for little/no money, I bought a used Mac from the university resale shop. They sold high-end desktops for a song, and since all she did was surf the internet and email, it would handle everything she needed to do. And I could visulaize the dialogs in my head to walk her through troubleshooting. So I assumed.One day I get a call, MiL: my computer is doing funny things. Me: Can you describe what it’s doing? MiL: Something something and then a window popped up.Me: What did it say?MiL: I don’t know, I clicked yes and it went away.Me: ….Me: [Suggests troubleshooting steps to try off line]LaterHusband: Mom bought a new computer. It runs Windows because that’s what all her friends have.Me: Good, her friends and Best Buy can help her fix it, don’t call me, I already tried.",
"parent_id": "8187437",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187931",
"author": "Russell Kent",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T13:38:10",
"content": "MiL: Something something and then a window popped up.Me: What did it say?MiL: I don’t know, I clicked yes and it went away.It is interactions like this which almost make me want to install Microsoft Windows Recall on their PC. So we can review what they clicked on / installed.",
"parent_id": "8187734",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188067",
"author": "hugh crawford",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T23:23:22",
"content": "Back in the windows 2000 days we used to use net send to put a dialogue box on all the other computers on the network. It saidARE YOU SURE?YES NOThe people who didn’t complain were the ones that worried me.",
"parent_id": "8187931",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188715",
"author": "Jdams",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T13:25:15",
"content": "We had a recent spam email test sent to the company I’m working for, which i opened because it said something about mandatory security training. (I had opened another one a few months prior before my morning coffee kicked in, and vaguely remembered them saying they may implement some mandatory training for people who failed) well in the new email there it was again, they ended the email notifying me I opened spam email with almost word for word what the spam email subject line was.I wrote a grumpy, well this isn’t very fair, email with screenshots of the 2 lines to the general support email address. Got an email that afternoon from some VP of this multithousand person company saying “it’s not meant to be fair” or some such, to which i agreed.But I at least like to think I caused a bit of a ruckus with all you sys admin folks and your managers, or at least got a few laughs as it got passed up the chain. At least an “he’s not wrong”",
"parent_id": "8188067",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187775",
"author": "Thinkerer",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T02:35:33",
"content": "I took a geology class once and the prof said that ‘If you’re ever cornered and asked to determine whether a gemstone is real or not, find a hammer and say that you’ll have to fracture it because the only way to tell is to measure the crystalline angles at fracture.”Smart man – I’ve used variations of this (making the repair more problematic than the immediate concern) for decades.",
"parent_id": "8187437",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187803",
"author": "Ian",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T04:38:11",
"content": "Oh. So you identify with the techy type the article talks about, but you don’t actually act like it…You speak of tough love, yet you go out of your way to lie to avoid actually doing the work, instead of telling the user how they screwed up, fixed the problem, and telling them how to avoid it in the future.And if they choose not to listen, well, tough love right?I’m not even going to get in to the fact that you think you somehow have good value judgement, yet you bought/use Macs.Gucci might make high quality bags, but claiming they are a good value is ludicrous.",
"parent_id": "8187437",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187439",
"author": "Chr El",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T14:31:47",
"content": "Semi related, UX designers and engineers for mainstream smartphone apps and especially smart TV OS/app UIs, need to do focus groups of over-60s. My parents constantly struggle with smart TV UIs, and honestly, I am sometimes too. Wildly inconsistent UIs (sometimes swipe up to reveal more, sometimes click in, sometimes neither …), sometimes not clear where the cursor is (especially for those with less than stellar eyesight), multiple text entry bars that are ambiguous (looking at you Apple TV).The old Verizon cable box system from like 2010 was the perfect UI for TV watching: consistent, clear UIs and dedicated remote buttons that always did the same thing.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187444",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T14:47:30",
"content": "Indeed, smartphones are awful and I really hate being asked by all the extended family that actually use the darn things way more than I do how to do something because its so unclear. I’ll still figure it out fast enough, but its so frustrating. The smartphone is so often less intuitive than the VHS taperecorder ever was, and those things spawned jokes on their complexity for a reason…",
"parent_id": "8187439",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187469",
"author": "Jeff",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T15:55:02",
"content": "12:00–:–12:00–:–…But at least you could still put a tape in and hit PLAY!Don’t get me started on modern UI design, it’s absolutely awful.",
"parent_id": "8187444",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187582",
"author": "johnrpm",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T20:19:06",
"content": "I recently repaired a VHS recorder/player, and watched tapes that had been in the garage for almost 20 years, a real buzz from the past, especially the advertisements.",
"parent_id": "8187444",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187494",
"author": "Pete",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T16:58:10",
"content": "I recycled my old computer for my parents to access Juno Mail. (Anyone remember that?). Even though my mom couldn’t spell WWW, they hooked it up to dial-up internet. I had streamlined MSIE by getting rid of the “Go” button, since all one had to do is hit enter. It wasn’t until Mom called up with a support request that I realized why that was there: “I’ve typed in a website, now what do I do?”:facepalm:Disregarding all the other flaws of MSIE, Microsoft at least had done focus groups with over-60s when they built it.",
"parent_id": "8187439",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187571",
"author": "Miles",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T19:55:57",
"content": "I shut off the taskbar search box in Windows entirely. Because you simply press the Windows key and start typing.",
"parent_id": "8187494",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187499",
"author": "Evilb",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T17:09:14",
"content": "Sony made a line for kids called ‘My First Sony’. When looking for electronics for the grand parents etc.. my dad and I used to joke that Sony should also make a ‘My Last Sony’ with the same ease of use…Now (30 years later) he makes the joke on himself",
"parent_id": "8187439",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187443",
"author": "DeveloperLen",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T14:43:49",
"content": "My wife, a clinical psychologist, can remain in business ONLY because she is married to “that guy”. I agree with all those who wonder how normal people survive.I accept the the challenge of helping friends and acquaintenances because A) It’s just good manners, B) her friends make VERY good iced chocolate brownies, and C) It keeps me up to date on how normal people use technology.My day job is deeply embedded / industrial data acquisition / control: My “happy place” is in front of logic analyzers and oscilloscopes, so I really don’t have daily interactions with normies’ use of technology.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187694",
"author": "PEBKAC",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T22:30:31",
"content": "Perhaps it’s time to reevaluate if you chose the right one- how do iced chocolate brownie friend’s tech support needs compare?Joking, of course",
"parent_id": "8187443",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187450",
"author": "PWalsh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T15:25:54",
"content": "I find lots and lots of gadgets thrown away at the dump, they’re in the “battery disposal” pile. I take them home, some of them work out of the box, and some of them I have to open up the case and goose the battery above the minimum voltage to get the charger working again.And some of them I simply have to replace the AA batteries.This is how normies survive: when something doesn’t work, they throw it away and buy another. It’s astonishing.I dragged a 4-channel 200 MHz oscilloscope out of the dumpsterat the makerspaceand plugged it in and it didn’t work right… because it was set to a weird mode. Setting switches and pushing buttons on the front panel put it back into normal mode, and now I own a 4 channel (better) oscilloscope.Purchased two very expensive 600 watt 13.56 MHz generators on craigslist for thin money, both work, were sold because the units made a weird sound and the owner was afraid they would self destruct. Replaced the fan and the scary sound went away.I haven’t purchased a new computer in ages, I simply go to the dump and look through the ones people throw away. I can usually find one there with better specs than the one I’m using, about every 5 years I do this. Linux runs very fast if you don’t let your system get gummed up with malware. (A friend, who is a professional EE designer with a modern system, has commented that my home system compiles things much faster than his.)This is how normies survive: when something doesn’t work in a way they don’t understand, they throw it away and get another one.It’s astonishing.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187693",
"author": "PEBKAC",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T22:29:06",
"content": "Aligns with my theory: normies survive by throwing money at the problem. Be it replacement kit or paying someone to fix it…",
"parent_id": "8187450",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187703",
"author": "CMH62",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T22:59:43",
"content": "If we knew each other, I think you and I would get along just fine!! :-)",
"parent_id": "8187450",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187773",
"author": "Thinkerer",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T02:31:42",
"content": "Try academia:I have a Fluke 95 Auto that a lab was throwing out because “it wouldn’t charge” – almost brand new, with all the bells and whistles (and paperwork). These have one of those thick rubber cases so you can (in theory) drop it a few times. Yep – the case had shifted just enough to keep the charging plug from seating correctly. A good nudge and…well it’s still in the garage, though I did put new batteries in it eventually.A whole lot of other spendy stuff that I won’t mention.",
"parent_id": "8187450",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187451",
"author": "bruno",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T15:27:56",
"content": "Normies just buy new stuff way more often than needed, and get scammed on shitty maintenance contracts and insurances.That is how they survive",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187729",
"author": "Stephen Keller",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T23:54:13",
"content": "I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked into “that guy’s” office and asked for an education. Over the years that attitude has made me into “that guy” for rafts of other folks. Learn a new thing every morning and nothing worse will happen all day long.",
"parent_id": "8187451",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187462",
"author": "John Hanson",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T15:46:19",
"content": "Look at the average person and then realize that half the population is less intelligent than that.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187539",
"author": "IPD",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T18:55:56",
"content": "Idiocdracy is my nightmare. It turned out to be an instruction manual. I dread going to bed some nights.",
"parent_id": "8187462",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187463",
"author": "genesis",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T15:47:40",
"content": "as another commentator already said: normies simply throw stuff away and buy new stuff. my parents’ neighbors got a “broken” phone from other neighbors, who bought a new phone for her 13yr old daughter and I was the designated person to “just fix the old one” when I visited. turns out every Astrology website on this planet was allowed to send notifications in the Chrome APP…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187574",
"author": "Miles",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T19:59:54",
"content": "Factory reset for phones. If possible flash a debloated stock OS. If not then connect it to a PC running universal android debloater and let it disable the built in apps. Useless stuff like Samsung store and Facebook, Microsoft Office etc.https://github.com/0x192/universal-android-debloater",
"parent_id": "8187463",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187468",
"author": "Splunge",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T15:52:54",
"content": "I am also “that guy” to a bunch of people, and each of them has asked the same basic question – “what do other people do when they don’t have you to call?” Sounds like the answer is also the reason why the thrift store is flooded with functional electronic goodies I can grab for pennies on the dollar.This is an oldie but goodie that always comes to mind when I think about being “that guy”:https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/in-which-i-fix-my-girlfriends-grandparents-wifi-and-am-hailed-as-a-conquering-hero",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187485",
"author": "uxorious",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T16:25:34",
"content": "I am “that guy” for most of my family and many friends. It was a very busy stretch of years when Windows 7 came out. I had a few older couples at church that I helped routinely and my standard fee was homemade peach cobbler and vanilla ice cream.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187500",
"author": "Yet Another Robert Smith",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T17:10:55",
"content": "I’ll take the normie who gives up over the Dunning Kruger poster child who knows nothing but tries to fix stuff anyway.I just replaced the shell of a broken Molex connector which would have been a 5 minute job had someone not pumped an acorn-sized blob of hot glue into the chassis in an attempt to stabilize the connector.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187546",
"author": "Idea P Dish",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T19:13:30",
"content": "Who didn’t get started by taking something apart that first time and not being able to put it back together after.BTW, did you know that isopropyl is a very good release agent for hot glue?",
"parent_id": "8187500",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187585",
"author": "Rick",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T20:24:18",
"content": "Isopropyl mixed 1:1 with vodka is also used to cure methanol poisoning. It prevent body from absorbing methanol so it can be expelled with urine. Side effect is it makes you totally drunk – but in hospital it’s okay, they give you plenty of vitamins to stay alive.",
"parent_id": "8187546",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187732",
"author": "NorthernDIY",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T00:02:24",
"content": "Don’t believe everything your AI search engine delivers. No amount of Isopropyl alcohol is safe for ingestion.",
"parent_id": "8187585",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187745",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T00:38:59",
"content": "Wasn’t there a story about a pack of beer cans that could be used in a similar situation?Because the “good” alcohol is being processed first that way?Not that I recommend it, but maybe this little memory makes it easier to find more meaningful information on the internet.",
"parent_id": "8187732",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187868",
"author": "Rick",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T09:23:15",
"content": "How can IPA be unsafe when it’s used in food industry.",
"parent_id": "8187732",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187893",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T11:17:11",
"content": "Isopropanol gets metabolized into acetone, which is a normal metabolic byproduct though rarely present in such high concentrations in blood. It’s relatively “safe”, within limits, the idea being that it competes with methanol just like ethanol does, but lasts longer. It makes you pretty sick though.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493181/Drinking a six pack of beer is a somewhat effective first aid for methanol poisoning, but only to buy you time to get to the hospital.",
"parent_id": "8187732",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187788",
"author": "jon",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T03:40:57",
"content": "I’ve been thinking about this as a talk off and on for years. I also volunteer as a pastor /elder at our church, and I find that there are many crossovers between the priesthood and being a tech guru.Being able to represent computers/technology to people and people to technology.Teaching disciplines that improve outcomes.Helping people through the unboxing and setup sacramentsImproving people’s processing so they get what they are looking forThe more technical things are there too, but trying to build an analogy would eventually broken down.",
"parent_id": "8187546",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187867",
"author": "Sammie Gee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T09:22:42",
"content": "IMHO, false causation. Some of the priests I run into had younger and eager minds.One particular occasion was a local parish priest, who, obviously with some help from the congregation, had figured out how to set up and run a server. This was in the mid-2000s when such a task for uninitiated was a formidable challenge (nowadays there is no shortage of pre-baked templates to go off of – together with all kinds of AWS services), and programming anything larger than a standalone JS-assisted web page would require some time/energy investment. Eventually he got boggled down by other tasks (the church was expanding, building new, larger mess hall, etc), but I remember our conversations (I’ve studied theology for some long while) and how he had no issues learning advanced stuffs.Unrelated, another local church’s priest, watching his son graduating with honors, Computer Science major, decided to quit and become a programmer, too. Judging how happy he was last time I met him, priesthood probably wasn’t his calling to start with.I also recall that The Amish elect their parish priests from their own. While the merits of such are usually mixed, this rules out outsiders and the conflicts they unknowingly may be creating. I admire them for their cohesion, and their devotion to their local congregation, something most of other churches around, sadly, seem to be missing. I admire The Amish for another trait – they carefully review what benefits their parish, and what destroys it, which served them well over 300 years now. Luddites they are not, all have cell phones and machinery, just they are careful with using these (something us, non-amish, should learn from them, btw). I also personally knew the amish programmers who also did the mandatory barn raising (and knew carpentry quite well – using modern tools, no less), so it is a matter of having mind open and willing to learn : -]",
"parent_id": "8187788",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187830",
"author": "valkyrie0528",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T07:46:21",
"content": "Isopropyl also works well for CA glue!",
"parent_id": "8187546",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188092",
"author": "0xDEADBEEF",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T02:36:39",
"content": "Yes, works great for silicone on caps as well.",
"parent_id": "8187546",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187543",
"author": "Idea P Dish",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T19:06:56",
"content": "Being that guy… Why do you actually think that is not normal?It’s normal for me. Those other people, it takes them way too long to catch up.The issues you describe I call a grandma problem. After I’ve gone through some of the intricate guesses/fixes for software and things i’ve fixed, I wonder what my grandma would do, if she got a thing I’ve just figured out. There ought to be a grandma in every QA dept on the planet.I use grandma, here, because she is the only one in my family, that I’d want to help and is not vieing for pecking order or pushing out emotional blackmail/guilt.And besides her cookies are the best.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187544",
"author": "brian",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T19:08:47",
"content": "How Do The Normal People Survive?Should they? Our species has diverse habitats. If members of the species are not able adapt to the harsher enviroments of hard and unforgiving technologies, I thought that nature and evolution was supposed to find a way to remove them from the gene pool, or force a migration of the inept tribes into a different environ having reduced use of technologies.Was Darwin wrong? Is there some reason that the ignorant should be allowed to thrive in a technological society?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187646",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T20:59:51",
"content": "these things aren’t really genetic. for example, my kids, who came from my genes, are absolutely useless at computers. and they have an awful attitude about how to deal with encountering an obstacle. not to insult my kids too much but it’s just, these are attitude / interest / education / experience things and the genetic component is fairly minor.and also, it’s a dialectic. the environment and the animal are not separated opposites, but part of the same whole. if people can’t hack it in an over-technologized wasteland, the technology is as likely to die out as the people.",
"parent_id": "8187544",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188219",
"author": "Winston",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T12:04:18",
"content": "I obviously don’t know your kids, but the LEARNED skill of critical thinking isn’t taught adequately or at all in schools UNLESS one takes many science courses which I believe is why many consider those kinds of courses more difficult – they rely on a new skill they need to learn instead of just rote memorization. Critical thinking and logical analysis are definitely required skills when troubleshooting technology.This is why STEM education is important regardless of whether or not a child eventually pursues a technical career.“It’s really important that students become critical thinkers, critical problem solvers, be able to make scientific claims on things, claim evidence and reasoning, and be able to articulate an argument from reasoning and all of those skills which makes a good citizen are also things that are grounded in the science and engineering spaces.” – interview of an Argonne National Lab scientist stating why STEM education from a young age persisting to older ages is so important“I think people in power have a vested interest to oppose critical thinking. You see, if we don’t improve our understanding of critical thinking and develop it as kind of second nature, we are just suckers ready to be taken by the next charlatan who ambles along… there are lots of ways to gain power and money by deceiving people who are not skilled in critical thinking.” – Carl Sagan, noted cosmologist, in radio interview, May 1996",
"parent_id": "8187646",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188539",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T07:23:55",
"content": "It depends on what framework you’re using for critical thinking. Critical thinking can also mean finding other ways to define something to criticize it – to find and angle to strike and fracture the monolithic mass of the established system into pieces, and then re-construct it otherwise.STEM alone does not prepare you for that conversation, and the critical thinking that is taught that way becomes narrow and focused mainly on finding ways to prove something is or isn’t, where the definitions are given from above. This gives you the illusion that a) the facts are known already, and b) critical thinking is about proving yourself right. When someone else comes along who doesn’t agree on the premises, you’re left powerless because their arguments – even if internally consistent – will be nonsense to you and yours to them.So critical thinking in these two ways can be used to maintain status-quo or to break it.",
"parent_id": "8188219",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188545",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T07:32:05",
"content": "Take for example, New Math was about teaching critical thinkingin a particular way that was exactly opposite of what the Soviets were doing. It had to be theright kindof critical thinking, so it wouldn’t give you wrong ideas.",
"parent_id": "8188539",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187896",
"author": "jim",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T11:22:23",
"content": "Darwinism is not a moral framework. The processes of evolution are a fact of precivilized (animal) life that Darwin describes, not a “should”. Cooperation is a major technology that helped us overcome Darwinian struggle (in some ways, at some times, and less so these days, but nonetheless.). Just help people out, it’s not that bad.",
"parent_id": "8187544",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188532",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T07:08:37",
"content": "Darwinism, or sciences in general, shut down a lot of moral arguments by pointing out that reality doesn’t care. Works both ways.Cooperation is an adaptation to circumstances in a Darwinian sense, not overcoming evolution, because with cooperation you change the evolutionary landscape. Evolution, biological or cultural, doesn’t stop there – it usually finds an edge or a pivot for the individual to abuse the system to thrive: now you’ve got to deal with cheaters, both in the sense of faking cooperation, but also individuals who are maliciously cooperative and sell themselves past the point of being useful. You get people who are “hyper-altruistic/empathetic”, who over-react and try to solve other people’s problems regardless of costs or effectiveness simply because it crushes their soul if they do nothing – and then they blame and try to punish other people for not reacting as dramatically as they do. You get naive people who simply goose-step wherever you command them to go, because they’ve been taught to cooperate no matter what. Etc.Over-applying whatever good idea can turn it into a bad idea.",
"parent_id": "8187896",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187553",
"author": "IIVQ",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T19:26:23",
"content": "I fix my neighbour’s computer.She sets me up with delicious fruit and repairs my sweater. She is “that guy”, just in other fields of expertise.In fact, quite a lot of people are. We have one guy in our building who is in the HOA board, rarely does active work but remembers where to find minute details about repair jobs done in 2004. Which saved us literal hundred thousands of euros. Not a sexy skill to have, but very useful to have around.A friend of mine is … Well let’s say useless for anything like this, but give it to him to organise a nice evening out in the town. Very useful for my mental wellbeing!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187648",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T21:01:39",
"content": "yeah that’s the real answer. ‘normies’ know people that cover a vast range of expertise and can generally get a ‘good enough’ result by interacting with the people they know",
"parent_id": "8187553",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187814",
"author": "Julianne",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T05:55:31",
"content": "The best answer imo. So many guys (yes I assume it’s guys) tooting their own horn about how they could, but won’t fix shit for their peers because what’s in it for them? If you honestly believe being good with tech is the only useful skill to have these days, expand your horizon. Often times we overlook what others do for us. Just as some may not appreciate us for our contribution. I say, if I feel genuinely unappreciated, I’m not required to give free tech support, but when somebodydoesshow appreciation and gives something in return, they can expect me to be there when they call. It’s called community and it’s awesome.",
"parent_id": "8187553",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187832",
"author": "PPJ",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T07:56:56",
"content": "“The best answer imo”Agree. I was about to write something similar.Recently I watched few interviews with people who were operating in war zones. They were also giving advices for civilians about preparation for difficult times. One of them was getting to know you neighbors. Those old technical illiterate ladies can help with child care. Lady who works in town hall may be great source of information about where help will be delivered (or even decide it will be your district). Former police/military officer can organize local football/wrestling team to patrol streets. Nurses, vets, hunters are equally needed as techs.Tech people like to brag about how independent they are thanks to their skills but often fail in recognizing what other do for them.",
"parent_id": "8187814",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187583",
"author": "craig",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T20:19:08",
"content": "Myself and most of my friends are That Guy. It’s why we’re friends. I’m “that guy” at work in some ways and I can’t just ignore when people ask me stuff they should know better. So I play nice. But I’d also say the amount of ignorance tracks almost 1:1 with inability to recognize the value of other peoples’ time needed to sort out your situation..Then I remind myself I’m a grown up and if I’m average, half the people around me are dumber than me anyway and I’ll never fix that. I’d guess many of the people I work around probably think I like them just fine when I really …. don’t. I think a lot of people around me probably extend ME the same courtesy. So my job is mostly pleasant.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187614",
"author": "Antron Argaiv",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T20:44:18",
"content": "Oh, and the answer to the question asked in the headline?They know “a guy” :-)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187665",
"author": "DougM",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T21:39:02",
"content": "First, props to HaD for using the term “normie” which has been wonderfully popularized by the Wednesday series. I guess it no monger means “man from the north”Anyway, recently I whipped out my phone and wanted to turn on the lights via the Wemo system when I was presented with a login screen. For probably obvious reasons I fully rejected the idea of having to log into a vendor’s app to turn on and off my lights.Fortunately a short chat with ClaudeAI later I had a python script that would enumerate the devices on my net and turn them on and off. Then using MIT App Inventor I should be able to put an app on my phone that performs the task.I honestly have no idea how normies live.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187837",
"author": "PPJ",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T08:05:19",
"content": "They live like hackers but instead asking Claude they call DougM because interface makes prompting easier and results are better :)",
"parent_id": "8187665",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187683",
"author": "Derek Tombrello",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T21:59:17",
"content": "I have fixed out vacuum sealer three times already – two different MOSFETs failed (at different times) and the ribbon cable broke. Most people would throw it out and buy a new one. I consider it both a blessing and a curse that I can fix damn near everything.But… I think being who we are, we bring a lot of this on ourselves. I don’t know about y’all, but the first thing I’ve ever done since I was a kid when getting anything new is take it apart to see what makes it tick. I’m more willing to buy cheaper, more sketchy things than most “normies” because I know I can fix/upgrade them – and I almost always do.Besides, in my dot on the map, my shop is pretty much “Emmet’s Fix It Shop” (you younguns can ask the older generation what that is). I run a small engine shop (and a TV shop before that) but I’ve had everything from blenders to vibrators brought to me to be fixed. Yes… I turned down the vibrator job.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187686",
"author": "Alex99A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T22:04:47",
"content": "Must be tough being so “elite”. What a cross to bear.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187696",
"author": "CJH",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T22:36:21",
"content": "I once fixed a carpet/upholstery extractor by clearing a water line with my air compressor. It took like 90PSI before it broke loose. I was like… Would most people have thrown this entire thing away?In fact, I know they would, because I just saved a snowblower from my neighbor’s trash. I asked what was wrong and he said it was hard to start. That’s it? Some small engine repair is all it needs. And a 3D printed part to replace one that was duct taped together.How many things end up in a landfill over a single clogged tube, broken wire, or whatever?Also, how do people who don’t know the roadie wrap put away garden hoses?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188014",
"author": "Aaron Brandt",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T19:01:57",
"content": "Yep… proper XLR cable bundling can save hours… hold one end and toss the bundle and it just lays out nice and tangle-free (learned that at The Geek Group)",
"parent_id": "8187696",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190821",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T18:48:09",
"content": "Saves the cables too.‘Unwinding’ an idiot looped cable not only tangles it but puts one twist on it for every loop.Every time they do it.No wonder so many instrument cables die so quick.",
"parent_id": "8188014",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187711",
"author": "CMH62",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T23:15:17",
"content": "I’ve usually been “that guy” for all around me, but much less skilled than Elliot. A few years back, I saw a NextDoor app plea by a lady a few neighborhoods over from me that her garage door was haunted. It would open at odd times of the day and even night without being triggered by her. I offered to come over and check it out. I ruled out any “that guy” neighbors pranking her electronically. Inspected the entire system and didn’t see anything obvious. So I took the batteries out of both her remotes. One day later, the ghost was still there. So went back over there and this time I took her keypad out of the system. 3 days went by and the door never mysteriously opened. Bingo: something wrong with the keypad. I opened up the keypad and noticed one of 10 small circular “clicky” buttons under the keypad numerals didn’t “click”. I guessed it was shorting out somehow. Took the board back to my house and desoldered the one button and then soldered in an extra button that I took off a circuit board that had once been part of a Microsoft force feedback driving wheel. Once I had the new button soldered in, the system worked perfectly and she was extremely happy. Haven’t gotten a repeat call from her for any other garage door problems in the many years since this repair was made. Being an engineer, I do this because I love solving puzzles, even relatively simple ones. And I also enjoy helping people out.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187744",
"author": "J ODell",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T00:38:17",
"content": "I enjoy helping people, if they will take just a little bit of time to write down what they did, and what the computer/tech device did. If they take for free, something I paid money to get specifically for them after thinking about their needs and skill level, then don’t say things like “It’s not what my firinds have”. Technology isn’t keeping up with the Jones, it’s using something to achieve a result.Now, my sister prefers Windows because that’s what she learned, and it’s familiar, and she doesn’t want to learn something else. And that’s perfectly fine. Many people prefer WIndows because its familiar, or it makes sense to them, and that’s great. Just don’t tell me my Mac or Linux is crap because you heard it once from someone 30 years ago. Make your argument based on real reasons of abilities/limitations, or even philosophical rationalizations like business practices. Just apply your philosophy equally to all players, is all I ask.And that’s my philosophy. Thank you for your patience LOL",
"parent_id": "8187711",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187743",
"author": "John Q Public",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T00:36:26",
"content": "My family doesn’t call me to fix their computers. I’m 3000 miles away from my family. :)Now you know why I’m 3000 miles away from my family. :) So, the kids know computers?Hey have at it….not my circus, not my barrel of monkeys.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187752",
"author": "Anonymous",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T01:02:16",
"content": "Technology serves to make the average person feel powerless. Not really a good thing! No wonder people are so angry nowadays.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187756",
"author": "Chuck I Tall",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T01:15:34",
"content": "That guy isn’t necessarily a tech dweeb. He could also be an auto mechanic or an HVAC technician or an electrician or a plumber. Perhaps no normal person is a master of any of these things, what do they do? What do you do? You call that guy. Having a talent is a gift, sometimes a burden, but something that should be shared humbly. In my 40 years in IT, one thing remains constant, nerds have also lacked humility.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187944",
"author": "Egghead Larsen",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T14:21:15",
"content": "My brothers are wastewater/water treatment guys. My sister had a question this morning re: her friend was drinking water from a local spring (on Spring Ave, unsurprisingly) and has developed colitis symptoms.Brothers knew that spring had excessively high levels of nitrates and checked side effects – third on the list was gastrointestinal symptoms. Sign says use at your own risk.Techie me wouldn’t have known that!Bros are much better at small gas engines than me,too!",
"parent_id": "8187756",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187771",
"author": "That's on a need to know basis",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T02:17:11",
"content": "As a christian i believe Jesus wants us to help others. For that reason if someone in my town’s tech is having an issue i will happily go help them out when they need it. There’s this one older gentleman in my church group with a pretty old Win10 laptop (prob gonna have to move him to win11 here soon, whether new pc or minimum requirements bypass) that he wanted me to help him make more private. I set him up with firefox, uBo, no 3rd party cookies, etc. He was so happy with it when he found out uBo blocked YT ads, he came up to me and told me “it works like a swiss clock!” whenever i’m home from college i check in with him to make sure everything’s working ok. it’s rather nice; we sit and talk about God and the world, etc. and sometimes I get a little compensation ;)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187845",
"author": "gareth",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T08:28:55",
"content": "Been pondering this.Most people have plug and play and if it doesn’t play, they send it back.Your fpv goggles, average Joe doesn’t have fpv goggles.Average Joe doesn’t have a custom mesh network but a single basic router box.They dont fit thier own garage door.They buy a new car because they dont know how to fix the old one.OrIn the best case the visit something like a repair cafe.Last attendance I repaired a very expensive speaker with a single capacitor and previously an expensive fan with a diode.Both were destined to the bin.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187872",
"author": "Jim",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T09:37:18",
"content": "If they’ve got any sense they take their broken kit to the local repair cafe. There’s an international grouping of local voluntary organisations that loosely associate under that heading. A couple of local people with a bit of spare time on their hands and an urge to organise things hire out a cheapish venue (often a church hall) put out a call for anyone with repair skills to come and help, advertise for people to bring along their broken stuff to be looked at, then shake down said customers on their way out for a donation to help cover running costs.If you turn up you’ll find a bunch of middle aged men who like fiddling with stuff but have run out of their own broken stuff, and a bunch of middle aged women who like sewing but have run out of their own stuff to sew, all willing to give up a couple of hours to the community. Plus it’s nice for repairing stuff to be a social occasion with others nearby to ask for and get help immediately. None of this waiting three days for someone to post a reply on line.I posted this link on another thread some time back but it got deleted. Presumably because the mods thought it was a link to some commercial organisation. I don’t think anyone’s making money. If they did start to charge proper fees then most local cafes would just unsubscribe and otherwise carry on as they are. See if there’s a local one to you then just turn up with a bag of tools. That’s how nearly all of us got involved.https://www.repaircafe.org/en/visit/(Is the idea that men solder and women sew sexist. Of course. But it’s true too. Feel free to go against the stereotypes. Nobody cares.)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187873",
"author": "Sammie Gee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T09:42:42",
"content": "Been fixing stuffs for years. Never considered myself “normie”, just “that dude who can figure out how to fix (almost) anything”. Lawn mowers, sewing machines, computers, etc.HAD stop removing my comments because of secret/hidden keywords within, I am not a tro-ll, nor I am spreading any propa-gan-da. I can edit my own comments.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188162",
"author": "Johnu",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T08:44:56",
"content": "When I learned to weld the 2nd thing my buddy taught me was how to politely say “no” to everyone who would come out of the woodwork and ask you to “just” weld up their rusty old nail of a car – a thankless and laborious task that they never wanted to pay even a fraction of the going rate for.Same with repairing stuff or fixing computers – sometimes it’s better to feign ignorance or lack of tools / supplies and live a peaceful life. Especially given how cheap most gadgets are these days.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188193",
"author": "Dave",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T10:40:05",
"content": "I am a master of nothing, but have had to learn a few repairs by necessity. Others see that I fix things, and constantly ask for repairs. When I need help, those that I have helped are too busy/threw their back out/are caring for a goldfish with cancer.My response now: “Sure, I’ll fix ii while you cut my grass/shovel my snow.”Requests for help have ended.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188220",
"author": "Koen",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T12:06:02",
"content": "How do normies survive:1. Buy a new powerbank2. order a replacement foam and wait for a week (or longer)3. Call customer service and after waiting for 1,5 hour they tell you this is a common question and the dip switches must be placed in reverse order (Almost but not quite blaming the user)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188378",
"author": "Felix Domestica",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T19:23:03",
"content": "I’d turn the question around: How do most techies survive without a basic understanding of carpentry, plumbing, safety rigging, and other practical larger-scale skills?You can’t be an expert in everything. You probably don’t want to be an expert in everything — I can sweat pipe and replace plumbing fixtures, but I have so far been able to avoid dealing much with drains.When you don’t know how to do the job easily and quickly enough, and it can’t wait until you learn, you either hire someone or buy a replacement or both.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188595",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T09:33:22",
"content": "You can’t be an expert in everything.MacGyver would disagree. ;)Before social media and Idiocrazy, there was a time of autodidacts..People who,-for reasons unknown to us-, teached themselves – without being payed for it. Bummer.https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autodidact",
"parent_id": "8188378",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188601",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T09:44:21",
"content": "How do most techies survive without a basic understanding of carpentry, plumbing, safety rigging, and other practical larger-scale skills?I’d suggest for most of us we are not really lacking those skills, just lacking the practical practice and stockpile of relevant tools/parts to make it look as effortless to do well as the plumber who’s been changing tap washers, the brickie who’s been laying bricks, or the roofer bending flashing for decades does.As to be a real techie implies you are probably curious enough to take things apart, enjoy learning the methods, good with your hands etc – so the only reason you call in the real plumber is you have something more important to you right now consuming your time, or its a legal requirement, so you must get your work done or signed off by a ‘qualified’ tradesman. We generally have the choice, which gives us so much more flexibility than the poor normies!",
"parent_id": "8188378",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188963",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T21:46:13",
"content": "The price of the tool is often less then the price of the service.Not so much for tech things (e.g. auto tech) as the trades.90% of people are better painters than union painters the first time they pickup the brush.Because they haven’t learned the self justifying BS (e.g. ‘Some people take 8 hours to do 8 hours of work, we do it in 4 and bill 8.’) from their union bothers.That and they are some approximation of sober, unlike the union guys.Protip:When hiring trades, hire the stoners.They do better work then the pill heads, drunks or tweakers.",
"parent_id": "8188601",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188590",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T09:21:02",
"content": "Speaking about “normal people”:Where I live, the average ~8 year old German kid (or boy) of the 1980s could build an superhet radio and repair things.The younger ones, say age 6, started with AM crystal radios at least.Not geniuses, butnormaldeveloped ones, I mean.About the time when kids and teens had tinkered with their C64 home computer, coded in 6502 ASM or Basic.It was up until the mid-late 90s that electronic construction kits from, say, Kosmos had been a normal sight in any toy store.Up to that point, model making (electric model trains, planes etc), repairing and modifying things was still not unusual.A notable percentage of the citizens had some skills here.Fixing cables, replacing water tubes and repairing the car was something about anyone had done at some point in life before.It was in the 2000s when the change came, I think, when repairing got out of fashion here were I live.The “CE” label, online shopping via internet and cheap stuff from China ruined it.That’s when we had become a throwaway society, a land of consumers, I’m afraid.Ironically, this was about same time when the Arduino Uno and the Raspberry Pi 1 weren’t far away.In principle, we have more technology available than ever.But! The problem is that schools apparently nolonger teach basic electronics in Germany.So it’s more of a niche than ever! Thinking about this really saddens me.Up until the 2000s, we still had simple electronic circuits made of incandescent lamps+switches on a wooden board, along with safe 4,5v/9v batteries.This was in 5th grade, already, right after elementary school.These things used to be basic education, just like learning about Ohm’s law in physics class.Needless to say that nearly all kids/teens of the 1980s to 2010s could assemble a computer or install software.They weren’t corrupted by mobile devices and apps yet.They still knew something about the technology they were using and how it worked inside.Speaking under correction.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188958",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T21:38:10",
"content": "Everybody lives in a bubble of some sort.Your parents had you living in a bubble of competence, same as mine.Even though we don’t have a gymnasium track, per say, in the USA.Don’t mistake your parents efforts with larger society.There have always been air thieves.My aunt, a recently retired German HS math teacher says that the biggest change is the dumb kids.20+ years ago every kid that graduated HS in Germany could do arithmetic, not algebra, but daily math…Add, subtract, multiply and divide, maybe a percentage on a good day.Now the dumbest quarter can’t.They can’t so much as double a recipe as apprentice bakers.Not even with a calculator, the concept of multiplication baffles them.Same as the dumb kids in the USA.Which is the dirty secret of American education:Does great for the smart motivated kids (seriously, our top quarter scores with any nations top quarter), does nothing for the dumb ones.",
"parent_id": "8188590",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
}
] | 1,760,371,409.065955
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/04/a-high-resolution-dac-from-scratch/
|
A High Resolution ADC From Scratch
|
Bryan Cockfield
|
[
"classic hacks"
] |
[
"16-bit",
"adc",
"analog digital converter",
"clock",
"counter",
"delta sigma",
"integration",
"integrator",
"op-amp",
"resolution"
] |
It’s a well-known conundrum that while most computers these days are digital in nature, almost nothing in nature is. Most things we encounter in the real world, whether it’s temperature, time, sound, pressure, or any other measurable phenomenon comes to us in analog form. To convert these signals to something understandable by a digital converter we need an analog-to-digital converter or ADC,
and [Igor] has built a unique one from scratch called a delta sigma converter
.
What separates delta sigma converters apart is their high sampling rate combined with a clever way of averaging the measurements to get a very precise final value. In [Igor]’s version this average is provided by an op-amp that integrates the input signal and a feedback signal, allowing for an extremely precise digital value to be outputted at the end of the conversion process. [Igor] has built this one from scratch as well, and is using it to interface a magnetic rotary encoder to control digital audio playback.
Although he has this set up with specific hardware, he has enough detail in his video (including timing diagrams and explanations of all of the theory behind these circuits) for anyone else to build one of these for other means, and it should be easily adaptable for plenty of uses. There are plenty of different ADC topologies too,
and we saw many different ones a few years ago
during our op-amp challenge.
| 6
| 4
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8187397",
"author": "D VB",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T11:58:38",
"content": "Title mentions DAC…..",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187489",
"author": "dudefromthenorth",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T16:44:26",
"content": "Indeed…",
"parent_id": "8187397",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187411",
"author": "Carl Breen",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T12:50:35",
"content": "I’ve made the mistake to sort his videos by popularity and realized he is also a surgeon. Be warned if you are sensitive to medical gore.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187419",
"author": "rthr4h4",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T13:13:19",
"content": "simple uestions.is possible making a better sound modem for radio transmision or not?this dev can making clear sound than normal modem?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187684",
"author": "Sam",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T21:59:25",
"content": "Low bandwidth Digital Radio sounds low quality because CODECs are intentionally low quality to preserve a fixed total bandwidth per FCC allocation and standard channel widths and frequencies. Some radios do things like logarithmic encoding in order to have greater dynamic range at the cost of linearity for the same sample bandwidth. It is simple compression, hence why it sounds like JPEG looks. Sample bandwidth is also exchanged for error correction coding because digital signals do not get static, they are all or nothing. This is a sample bandwidth-range tradeoff as total bandwidth of a channel is fixed, but you can always take away from audio quality.Delta sigma ADC and DAC are normally for input and output, not radio frequency transmission, so they will not do anything. They are also not often used for radio physical layer as Delta Sigma sacrifices sample rate for sample.quality rather than digital correctness probability. Using for example, Delta Sigma ADCs and DACs to send and receive QAM-16384 might not have any improvement for radio on a faster implementation of QAM-4 on a flash ADC running one sample per clock. Then bear in mind that spectrum allocation via FCC costs money. Large grid QAM is more typically seen in fiber optic communication, presumably with ECC even for those relatively sterile signal environments. (Per a job post looking for transceiver design skills). I doubt they were using Delta Sigma as other ADCs and DACs are faster.",
"parent_id": "8187419",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187812",
"author": "Chris Maple",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T05:11:40",
"content": "This is not a delta-sigma ADC, it’s a single slope integrating ADC.Delta-sigma converters use higher order filters. They’re much more complicated, much more difficult to understand, and are capable of converting much higher frequencies than a single slope converter running at the same clock rate.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,408.898678
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/04/how-your-sid-may-not-be-as-tuneful-as-youd-like/
|
How Your SID May Not Be As Tuneful As You’d Like
|
Jenny List
|
[
"Musical Hacks",
"Retrocomputing"
] |
[
"midisid",
"MOS 6581",
"sid"
] |
The MOS Technologies 6581, or SID, is perhaps the integrated circuit whose sound is most sought-after in the chiptune world. Its three voices and mix of waveforms define so much of our collective memories of 1980s computing culture, so it’s no surprise that modern musicians seek out SID synthesisers of their own. One of these is the MIDISID, produced by [MIDI IN], and in a recent video
she investigates an unexpected tuning problem
.
It started when she received customer reports of SIDs that were out of tune, and in the video she delves deeply into the subject. The original SID gained its timing from a clock signal provided by the Commodore 64, with thus different timing between NTSC and PAL versions of the machine. This meant European SID music needed different software values to American compositions, and along the way she reveals a localisation error in that the British Commodore 64 manual had the wrong table of values.
Modern SIDs are emulated unless you happen to have an original, and her problem came when switching from one emulated SID to another. The first one used that clock pin while the second has its own clock, resulting in some music being off-tune. It’s a straightforward firmware fix for her, but an interesting dive into how these chips worked for the rest of us.
Image: Taras Young,
CC BY-SA 4.0
.
| 6
| 4
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8187350",
"author": "Senile Data Systems",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T09:09:05",
"content": "One of the SIDs in my 13 C64s also has a slight defect where one of the voices occasionally plays sour notes – out of tune by up to a note and a half. I need to use the SID test program on it and see if there’s irregularities in the sweep on one voice. Kinda odd that this only happens every now and again and only on some tunes, but at least it’s reproducible.(I also have two where if you use Attack on voice 1, that voice disappears completely – that’s also only noticeable on some tunes)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187417",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T13:04:56",
"content": "The SIDs were very fragile to begin with, I think.I guess they could take damage when joysticks/paddles weren’t okay?The X/Y pins on the joystick ports connected to the SID and were used for paddle and analog mouse support.Also, the filters..The first type, the 6581, technically was broken but games/demod were programmed for the flaw(s),thus did sound wrong on later versions that were fixed.Then there’s that a** poor Commodore power supply of the C64, the early elephant foot type.It provided overvoltage not seldomly and likely stressed or even damaged the C64 components.Maybe it caused SID chips to fail, too. Not sure.",
"parent_id": "8187350",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187516",
"author": "OH3MVV",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T18:02:03",
"content": "The power supply has probably broken more C64s than any other fault. Since it is potted in epoxy, hard to tell what is the actual problem, but I suspect the resistor in regulators ground connection. It was added to slightly raise the output voltage. After all these years, the power supply raises its +5V to almost 6 volts while warming up.I have installed a zener/thyristor crowbar limiter to all my Commodore machines, to short out the power supply and blow fuse when 5V goes above 5.5V. With old C64 power supplies, that happens surprisingly often.",
"parent_id": "8187417",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187413",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T12:52:59",
"content": "The SID also was used in IBM PC soundcards, inThe Entertainerand theInnovation Sound Standard..The latter, the SSI-2001, had been re-built in the past few years.There are a few games from the 1980s and early 90s supporting it, as well as some music players.The latter can be run on DOS to play SID music.Here’s a video of Ultima VI with SID music (as an example, not mine):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JdUdZi97S0For Windows 3.1 and up, there’s an emulator namedSIDPlay for Windows.It doesn’t use dedicated hardware, but an older 6510/SID emulation code.Last but not least, there used to exist an ISA/PCI card for PC namedCatweasel.It contained an Amiga compatible floppy controller, C64 joystick ports and one or two sockets for SID chips, I think. Drivers for DOS existed, as well.More information about SSI-2001 (not affiliated):https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innovation_SSI-2001https://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2014/01/sid-and-dos-unlikely-but-true-bedfellows.html?m=1",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187434",
"author": "jepler",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T14:15:37",
"content": "KungFuSID appears to be open source, hopefully someone can raise an issue with them or even fix the bug so that the tuning better matches what real HW would do. This would probably involve playing some games with the timer prescaler, which right now is set to 84 to give exactly 2MHz, but probably needs to be ~2.045(NTSC) or ~1.97(PAL). Prescalers of 82 or 85 would be closer (actually within 6 cents) and by arranging to alternate between two adjacent prescalers you’d add ~6ns of jitter but could get as close as you like to the target frequency.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187452",
"author": "SETH",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T15:28:02",
"content": "On a tangent, there’s good SID emulation available in vst and libsid. I’ve always wanted to write a 2A03 or SID emulation which captures errors and glitches like this. The vst will output a clean digital waveform vs the IR of the real thing having more nonlinearities. Temperature of operation woild be great, the 6502+2A03 combo behaved erratically when overheated making glorious glitch noise.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,409.224315
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/03/building-a-ham-radio-data-transceiver-on-the-cheap/
|
Building A Ham Radio Data Transceiver On The Cheap
|
Lewin Day
|
[
"News"
] |
[
"ham radio",
"radio",
"raspberry pi",
"RF"
] |
Once upon a time, ham radio was all about CW and voice transmissions and little else. These days, the hobby is altogether richer, with a wide range of fancy digital data modes to play with. [KM6LYW Radio] has been tinkering in this space, and whipped up a compact ham radio data rig that you can build
for well under $100
.
Radio-wise, the build starts with the Baofeng UV-5R handheld radio. It’s a compact VHF/UHF transceiver with 5W output and can be had for under $25 USD if you know where to look. It’s paired with a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W, which is the brains of the operation. The Pi is hooked up to the
All-In-One-Cable
which is basically a soundcard-like interface that plugs into USB and hooks up to the mic and speaker outputs of the Baofeng handheld. The final pieces of the puzzle are a USB PD battery pack and a small OLED screen to display status information.
What does that kit get you? The capability to transmit on all sorts of digital modes with the aid of the DigiPi software package. You can send emails, jump on APRS, or even chat on the web. You can configure all of this through a web interface running on the Raspberry Pi.
We’ve looked at
some interesting digital ham projects before,
too. Video after the break.
[Thanks to programmer1200 for the tip!]
| 19
| 9
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8187306",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T05:38:36",
"content": "Once upon a time, ham radio was all about CW and voice transmissions and little else.And RTTY (“ritty”) at 45,45 Baud, I would say. :)Most morse code decoders or morse code keyboards of the 1970s had a RTTY mode, too.The East German AC-1 home computer of early 80s was made with RTTY in mind, for example.Other home computers of late 70s and 80s were used in the ham shack primarily for RTTY, I think.Second reason was to predict orbits of ham satellites, I believe.Most of such RTTY equipment could be repurposed/modified for AMTOR later on, as well.AMTOR allowed “connecting” stations, similar to Pactor or Packet-Radio.But using the old RTTY tones, basically. Which allowed re-using existing filters, RTTY crosses and FSK inputs/outputs etc.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187309",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T05:57:41",
"content": "Once upon a time, ham radio was all about CW and voice transmissions and little else.There’s also Hellschreiber that comes to mind.It’s from the 1920s and in its original version uses CW signals..There’s even antique software for Apple 2 and IBM PC, for example.Still works in emulators or DOS VMs. New software exists, too, of course.Then there’s SSTV which started in the 1960s using flying spot scanners.In the 1970s, digital SSTV converters such as the Robot 400 got more common.A home computer such as ZX Spectrum could do it in the 1980s, too.Again, both vintage software and modern software is available.In principle, amateur radio was always cutting edge and experimental.For example, the UHF/VHF amateurs of the 1970s already did experiment with laser and micro wave links.Unfortunately, that’s often overlooked because ham radio often is mainlybeing associated with the shortwave fans and their established modes (morse telegraphy, SSB)..Why? Because they’re the most vocal group, I suppose.Contests, diplomas, egos. The tinkerers and experimenters are much quieter, by comparison.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187384",
"author": "celso pinheiro",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T11:11:50",
"content": "Contests are the main reason I kept my radios of most of the time….",
"parent_id": "8187309",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187421",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T13:15:05",
"content": "That’s okay. Each to his/her own. I switch off my radios during contests, though.Needless to say that contests often happen on weekends, which is annoying but has to be accepted.It’s just sad, though, because it’s the time people could relax and have time for their hobbys.. Sigh.But again, I’m not complaining.. There’s space for everyone.There are ham satellites, moon bounce and exotic bands (VLF, 160m etc) were the rioters aren’t lurking around. Vy73s.",
"parent_id": "8187384",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187312",
"author": "warpedpipe",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T06:32:17",
"content": "packet radio is the main reason i am studying to get my technician license. i think this stuff is so interesting.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187426",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T13:54:17",
"content": "PR is very interesting. Also because it works on any medium.You can use infrared and laser, CB radio or audio, even..The FX.25 extension is very nice I think, because it doesn’t break support with vintage equipment.I recommend trying out DireWolf and Sound Modem, both are software TNCs.(A simple 1200 Baud KISS TNC for serial port can be built using an Arduino Uno, even.)MixW2 and MixW3 also have a software TNC that could simulate a KISS TNC on a serial port.Both were popular multimode applications in the 2000s and had been used by ham operators on Linux via WINE, even.Such as the AFU Knoppix distribution, which contained a pre-installed WINE, as well as Xastir (APRS map) and other ham software.Speaking of APRS, besides the original DOS version, there’s also UI-View and WinAPRS/MacAPRS (among others).UI-View was popular in Europe and used bitmaps, while WinAPRS was popular in North America.The 16-Bit version of UI-View runs on Windows 3.1x and is very lightweight (runs in DOSBox or any old laptop etc),while the 32-Bit version supports many plug-ins (for weather stations etc) and needs a registration (free of charge).MacAPRS (68k or PPC/Carbon) on classic Mac OS (up to 9.2.2) supported serial port TNCs.On Mac OS X, the serial port driver nolonger is available, though.MacAPRS/WinAPRS were notable for supporting model rockets and other interesting things.For balloon missions, both UI-View and MacAPRS/WinAPRS are fine, though. Xastir, too.Though the old DOS APRS was best here perhaps, it had a “3D view” that showed the altitude of an object, relative to ground.Anyway, just saying. It’s just an summary to give an idea, because these details aren’t on Wikipedia etc. Have fun. Vy73s.",
"parent_id": "8187312",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187338",
"author": "Tom",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T08:39:11",
"content": "“Because they’re the most vocal group”Don’t forget the ARES/Winlink group….they will save the world one day. :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187402",
"author": "Will Belden",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T12:18:09",
"content": "Regarding JUST these particular radios/walkies…. I have a pair, the wife and I use them for coordinating backing up and parking our giant RV. But when she’d go to the back of the rig, it was nothing but static. Every. Single. Time. I tried everything, and was just about to throw them away when I ran across an article that showed how you could change the squelch levels. They were just horribly set at the factory. Once I adjusted the levels, they were completely awesome for our needs.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187431",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T14:05:28",
"content": "Hi there! Changing the rubber antenna for something else improves the range, too.Because the antennas included likely aren’t tuned for the specific radio band you use and aren’t very effective thus.Instead, they’re made to be very compact and safe (no pointy ends).If you’re mainly on VHF or UHF, attaching a proper mono band or duo band antenna for those bands helps a lot.",
"parent_id": "8187402",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188135",
"author": "Laurens",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T06:43:41",
"content": "Don’t. If you just want to park your RV, you actively want to avoid a range of multiple kilometers (which you easily get with the supplied shitty antenna)",
"parent_id": "8187431",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187420",
"author": "rhju56rj5",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T13:14:21",
"content": "I need this but not for ham radio but for reticulum and citizen free ISM band, pmr, cbradio etc.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187497",
"author": "Rochelle",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T17:07:31",
"content": "LoL nobody uses those digital modes on 2m or 70 cm bands because they are designed for SSB modes and a waste of bandwidth to use with FM",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187513",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T17:55:18",
"content": "APRS is a horrible, non-optimal use of bandwidth too, yet it remains popular.Why? Because it works and everybody can do it with their existing hardware.It’s harder (or impossible) to use a normal inexpensive FM voice radio to use “optimal” digital codes over the voice channel, so there’s still a big niche for arrangements like this.",
"parent_id": "8187497",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187525",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T18:19:30",
"content": "A big problem of AX.25 is the lack of fordward error correction (FEC), which FX.25 and other extensions try to provide.Once this has become more widespread, classic APRS could somewhat compete with LoRa APRS, even.AFSK itself is another weak point, because the two tones have different strenght by default.Unfortunately, it often happens that thewrong toneis louder than the other, which causes TNCs to become confused.Reading about principle of emphasis/de-emphasis clears things up, a bit, I think.That’s in parts also because of the FM vs PM issue.Classic 2m transceivers by ICOM, Kenwood, Standard and Yaesu did use real frequency modulation (FM).The cheap Chinese radios however use a cheaper method for modulation, which results in phase modulation (PM).Now, PM and FM are both allowed and mostly compatible, but mixing FM and PM does cause lower fidelity.For example, if you’re using PM and the local FM repeater uses, well, FM.Or vice versa. Or if two operators are communicating directly on a channel but one has FM or PM..The result is a muffled voice on the other side of the radio.That’s especially confusing if there’s a group of cheap PM Fingfang radio users and one guy has a real vintage FM radio.He/she will be perceived as having poor modulation by the others,just like a sane guy in an asylum who might be perceived as crazy by everyone else. ;)",
"parent_id": "8187513",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188037",
"author": "James H Smith",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T20:35:27",
"content": "AFAIK, the tones are not generated with different levels by default. The difference is due to pre-emphasis as used in the normal FM/PM modulation process. Just use de-emphasis on receive.. what is annoying is the overuse of preemphasis on transmit which leads to a practically unusable amount of “twist” even with deemphasis on receive. I have used the UV5-R successfully in packet, but my old Radio Shack 2m mobile introduces so much twist it is unusable for any data mode.",
"parent_id": "8187525",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190445",
"author": "Joe",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T23:39:44",
"content": "Interesting; as a RTTY and digital mode operator since 1967 I’ve never had any of these issues. Any aircraft engineer will tell that bumblebees can’t fly either, cz their wings are too small; but someone forgot to tell the bumblebee, so he just keeps on flying merrily around, doing whatever it is that bumblebees do. So I guess I’ll just keep typing along, and my messages will keep flying through the air, just like the poor, uneducated bumblebee.",
"parent_id": "8187525",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190443",
"author": "Joe",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T23:30:10",
"content": "Dead wrong! Digital modes are highly effective on FM. And digital on vhf/uhf makes it possible for Tech class licensees to enjoy digital radio, and may give them additional incentive to move up to General. Plus, your notion that these modes work best on SSB is entirely incorrect. Digital modes that work through a radio’s audio channel will work equally well through radio, landline telephone, cellular, or even a garden hose through a speaker to a microphone within hearing range(retired communications engineer here, do I know what I’m talking about). Snd it’s not a waste of bandwidth to use it on FM any, cz that’s a channelized band segment anyway. How do you think packet and police MTDs work? At one time we had a fair-sized group working SSTV, Morse, PSK, snd other digital modes through our local repeater on one evening per week set aside for that, and simplex on 145.55, a frequency set aside for digital and experimental modes. Your claimed knowledge is deficient; back to the the books for you!",
"parent_id": "8187497",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187502",
"author": "almostenchanting58329a025b",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T17:26:18",
"content": "What LCD do we buy?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187505",
"author": "almostenchanting58329a025b",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T17:32:38",
"content": "We are missing the clear raspberry pi case as well. I found clear cases, but I don’t know if they will fit that model and the cables.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,409.284889
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/03/when-usb-charger-marketing-claims-are-technically-true/
|
When USB Charger Marketing Claims Are Technically True
|
Maya Posch
|
[
"Teardown"
] |
[
"scams",
"teardown",
"usb charger"
] |
The 600W is not the output rating, despite all appearances. (Credit: Denki Otaku, YouTube)
We have seen many scam USB chargers appear over the years, with a number of them being enthusiastically ripped apart and analyzed by fairly tame electrical engineers. Often these are obvious scams with clear fire risks, massively overstated claims and/or electrocution hazards. This is where the “600W” multi-port USB charger from AliExpress that [Denki Otaku] looked at
is so fascinating
, as despite only outputting 170 Watt before cutting out, it’s technically not lying in its marketing and generally well-engineered.
The trick being that the “600W” is effectively just the model name, even if you could mistake it for the summed up output power as listed on the ports. The claimed GaN components are also there, with all three claimed parts counted and present in the main power conversion stages, along with the expected efficiency gains.
While testing USB-PD voltages and current on the USB-C ports, the supported USB-PD EPR wattage and voltages significantly reduce when you start using ports, indicating that they’re clearly being shared, but this is all listed on the product page.
The main PCB of the unit generates the 28 VDC that’s also the maximum voltage that the USB-C ports can output, with lower voltages generated as needed. On the PCB with the USB ports we find the step-down converters for this, as well as the USB-PD and other USB charging control chips. With only a limited number of these to go around, the controller will change the current per port dynamically as the load increases, as you would expect.
Considering that this particular charger can be bought for around $30, is up-front about the limitations and uses GaN, while a genuine 300 Watt charger from a brand like Anker goes for $140+, it leads one to question the expectations of the buyer more than anything. While not an outright scam like those outrageous $20 ‘2 TB’ SSDs, it does seem to prey on people who have little technical understanding of what crazy amounts of cash you’d have to spend for a genuine 600 Watt GaN multi-port USB charger, never mind how big such a unit would be.
| 20
| 9
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8187283",
"author": "SETH",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T03:36:29",
"content": "PhD in Mathematics is just my DJ name 😂",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187410",
"author": "Winston",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T12:45:34",
"content": "And big10inch is my more truthful user name, but I don’t like to brag.",
"parent_id": "8187283",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187296",
"author": "Marty",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T04:32:47",
"content": "Deceptive marketing at its finest. 🙄",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187311",
"author": "rasz_pl",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T06:20:12",
"content": "Technically correct, the best kind of correct :| Reminds me of Novoo GaN charger Gough Lui tested some time agohttps://goughlui.com/2025/08/24/review-teardown-novoo-rg68-usb-c-x2usb-a-67w-gan-wall-charger/Gan (real parts!) running hot and will lesser efficiency than high quality traditional chargers, plus dropping to 70ties% on 5V loads.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187319",
"author": "Xooxialp",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T07:07:13",
"content": "1980’s truth in advertising: “Made in Usa”… Japan.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187367",
"author": "Stephen",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T10:12:17",
"content": "It reminds me of the “homemade” doughnuts which were actually made in a foreign country called Homemade (pronounced “home-eh-mah-day”…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187511",
"author": "Miles",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T17:50:49",
"content": "Technically all you need to do is provide an apartment for factory workers and anything is ‘homemade’",
"parent_id": "8187367",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188088",
"author": "nope",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T01:55:13",
"content": "Like the infamous “Made in Sheffield” knives which was the company name in China.",
"parent_id": "8187367",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187409",
"author": "William",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T12:44:18",
"content": "A 170W charger with that many ports sounds great for travel at $34. Plus, now you’ve got someone that’s done a teardown of it. Honestly, I think I’ll get one now.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187416",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T13:02:38",
"content": "But I wouldn’t trust this thing not to catch on fire.",
"parent_id": "8187409",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187480",
"author": "Piotrsko",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T16:20:00",
"content": "Catching fire is a feature",
"parent_id": "8187416",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187486",
"author": "Pedro R",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T16:30:55",
"content": "Assuming you drive 60w to 100w in a typical scenario there’s some “engineering safety margin”I would be more concerned about the regulator malfunctioning and blasting some expected voltage over PD. Any savings in a cheap charger are quickly gone….",
"parent_id": "8187416",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187577",
"author": "William",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T20:14:30",
"content": "Even name brand stuff catches on fire sometimes. In practice this stuff tends to be reference designs anyway. I found one of these using aliexpress image search. I’ll have one in a few weeks. Plus, only $34 right now.",
"parent_id": "8187416",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187714",
"author": "Cody",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T23:19:14",
"content": "The other main thing to worry about is the isolation. A poorly made transformer can have an insulation breakdown resulting in the USB ground being raised hundreds of volts above earth ground. That could electrocute someone if it’s not used on an RCD/GFCI protected circuit, not to mention blowing up any grounded equipment it gets plugged into.",
"parent_id": "8187416",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187964",
"author": "merr",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T15:16:15",
"content": "also quality control. just because they build one good one doesn’t mean the rest of them will be built to those standards",
"parent_id": "8187416",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187692",
"author": "rooted",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T22:26:54",
"content": "I’ve been using this 100W charger for a year and a half every day including charging my power bank at 90W and it’s been flawless.The only problem with it is it renegotiates every time you plug an additional thing into one of the 4 ports causing each thing to stop and start charging again. Only a problem if you use it to power a SBC or something as it will reboot when plugging another device into it.Can’t be beat for about $13, don’t discount all inexpensive GaN chargers.https://a.co/d/4iOABTJ",
"parent_id": "8187409",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187512",
"author": "hwertz",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T17:52:51",
"content": "My friend bought a ‘500,000mah’ power bank a few years ago. I did point out (even at 3 volts let alone 12) that it’d have to be way bigger than a. car battery. Indeed 500,000mah was the brand name LOL.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187908",
"author": "m1ke",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T12:38:19",
"content": "If you add up the numbers on the 8 ports it equals 600…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187970",
"author": "tipakA",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T15:33:55",
"content": "And yet the ports are shared and pd drops, making it impossible to ever reach that “total”. It’s written up there that even product page says so.",
"parent_id": "8187908",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188588",
"author": "Lloyd",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T09:16:28",
"content": "So, if they’re $30/each – just buy three of them.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,409.363253
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/03/cold-sensor-hot-results-upgrading-a-dslr-for-astrophotography/
|
Cold Sensor, Hot Results: Upgrading A DSLR For Astrophotography
|
Matt Varian
|
[
"hardware"
] |
[
"astrophotography",
"dslr",
"peltier cooler"
] |
When taking pictures of the night sky, any noise picked up by the sensor can obscure the desired result. One major cause of noise in CMOS sensors is heat—even small amounts can degrade the final image. To combat this, [Francisco C] of Deep SkyLab retrofitted an old Canon T1i DSLR with an
external cooler to reduce thermal noise
, which introduces random pixel variations that can hide faint stars.
While dedicated astrophotography cameras exist—and [Francisco C] even owns one—he wanted to see if he could improve an old DSLR by actively cooling its image sensor. He began with minor surgery, removing the rear panel and screen to expose the back of the sensor. Using a sub-$20 Peltier cooler (also called a TEC, or Thermoelectric Cooler), he placed its cold side against the sensor, creating a path to draw heat away.
Reassembling the camera required some compromises, such as leaving off the LCD screen due to space constraints. To prevent light leaks, [Francisco C] covered the exposed PCBs and viewfinder with tape. He then tested the setup, taking photos with the TEC disabled and enabled. Without cooling, the sensor started at 67°F but quickly rose to 88°F in sequential shots. With the TEC enabled, the sensor remained steady at 67°F across all shots, yielding a 2.8x improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio. Thanks to [Francisco C] for sharing this project! Check out his project page for more details, and explore our other
astrophotography hacks
for inspiration.
| 16
| 8
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8187229",
"author": "Ray",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T23:26:28",
"content": "A cool project",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187253",
"author": "AlongTheWay",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T00:45:30",
"content": "Gives me the chills…",
"parent_id": "8187229",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187287",
"author": "NTHunter",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T03:44:39",
"content": "Very cool project, time to put those peltiers in the drawer to a good use. Maybe I can use the peltier’s warm side to keep the scope free from condensation too!But… Why Fahrenheit isstillbeing used is the biggest question of our generation.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187755",
"author": "alanrcam",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T01:13:43",
"content": "The standard equations for thermal noise use Kelvin, so for reference:67°F = 19.444°C = 292.594K88°F = 31.111°C = 304.261K (a 3.987% change)",
"parent_id": "8187287",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187310",
"author": "prfesser",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T06:19:07",
"content": "This brought up a memory from the dark ages of amateur astrophotography, when film was still used. Celestron (I think) developed a cold camera that used dry ice to cool the emulsion. This greatly reduced reciprocity failure of room-temperature emulsion, in which increasingly long exposures did not provide proportionally-greater sensitivity.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187440",
"author": "MacAttack",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T14:32:59",
"content": "I don’t get how he gets a 2.8x better SNR. Thermal noise is proportional to temperature and bandwidth but that temperature is referenced to absolute zero. A 20ish difference in degrees F can’t account for what he claims.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187481",
"author": "miguel",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T16:20:54",
"content": "I guess that is the case for thermal noise generated after the sensor, but probably in this case is limited by thermal noise before the sensor so that the highly non-linearity of the CMOS response modifies natural proportional response to temperature (which probably is optimized for general photography an temperatures but not for astrophotography with far less photons per seconds). I have found this article that seems to show the importance of themperature on scientific CMOS camerashttps://andor.oxinst.com/learning/view/article/te-cooling-of-scmosso it seems temperature is indeed quite relevant. I am no expert in any case, just wondering myself too due to your question.",
"parent_id": "8187440",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187509",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T17:40:58",
"content": "Rule of thumb from the good old days of CCDs (80s & 90s) was the dark noise (“thermal noise”) increased by a factor of two every ten degrees C. Noise processes in CMOS imagers are somewhat different, but a similar relation would hold for them.",
"parent_id": "8187440",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187769",
"author": "Michael",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T02:11:49",
"content": "Dark current in a CMOS pixel is exponential with temperature, not linear. It doubles roughly every 8C. Presuming he is doing long exposures and so limited by dark current, a little more than half the dark current for cooling a little more than 8C is about right.",
"parent_id": "8187440",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187474",
"author": "VDP",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T16:06:23",
"content": "Looking at the temperatures, I think a more performant TEC should have been used along with a proper heatsink on the hot side allowing for much lower temperatures (perhaps subzero) on the cold side",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187652",
"author": "Paul",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T21:08:42",
"content": "Great if you have a hermetically sealed sensor, including its pins and adjacent circuit board. Otherwise dew is very much not your friend.",
"parent_id": "8187474",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187724",
"author": "oz ozzy",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T23:45:21",
"content": "I tec cooled my t3i and full spectrum modded it. I did it without hacking the camera case, connectors, etc, actually you can’t tell it’s modded except the thermal couple wire.Let me clarify, I can remove the tecs, heatsink and fan and it looks normal camera.What I did was place thermal padding from the back of the sensor, to the back of the camera, I flip the screen open, place a thermal pad on the plastic, dual 12v 60w tecs ($3 each) and a heatsink/fan. I run the tecs at 3.5v each (7v when connected in series and about 800mA, about 6w total). Without the tecs running on 70f room temp, the sensor gets to 95f, with the tec on, it drops to 55f, 40f delta. The dark noise is night and day. Yes, I could go colder but dew is not your friend.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187726",
"author": "oz ozzy",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T23:49:09",
"content": "Here the results, view on a PChttps://www.flickr.com/photos/123906448@N08/30761822970",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188304",
"author": "Maave",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T16:29:17",
"content": "Disassembly of these cameras is safer/easier than I thought. Opening the back panel doesn’t expose the optics. Maybe I could add cooling to my overheating 4k camera.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189904",
"author": "oz ozzy",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T05:38:36",
"content": "One trick I came up with is, take a fine sharpie, and mark how far the ribbon cables are inverted (with a line) before you remove them. This way you know they are fully inverted when reassembling the camera. Also note some connected flip tab can be reversed (flips up from the back side), careful visual inspection before flipping it is wise). Also read how I called mine above for an option.",
"parent_id": "8188304",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189906",
"author": "nick mcmillan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T05:40:12",
"content": "^inverted^ = incerted",
"parent_id": "8189904",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
] | 1,760,371,409.415714
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/03/build-a-3d-printed-tide-clock-so-you-know-when-the-sea-is-coming-to-get-you/
|
Build A 3D Printed Tide Clock So You Know When The Sea Is Coming To Get You
|
Lewin Day
|
[
"clock hacks"
] |
[
"a moon called moon",
"clock",
"moon",
"The Moon",
"tidal",
"tide",
"tide clock"
] |
The tides! Such a unique thing, because on Earth, we don’t just have oceans full of liquid water—we also have a big ol’ moon called Moon to pull them around. You might like to keep track of the tides; if so,
this tide clock from [rabbitcreek] could come in handy.
The motions of the tides are moderately complex; it was in the late 19th century that Sir William Thomson figured out a reasonable method to predict the tides mathematically and with a mechanical contrivance of his own design. These days, though, you don’t need pulleys and ropes to build a tide clock; you can just use electronics for display and the NOAA API to get the information you need.
[rabbitcreek’s] build is based around the Xiao ESP32 S3, which is charged with using its Wi-Fi connection to query NOAA up-to-date tide height data. It then uses this information to drive the position of a servo, installed inside a 3D-printed housing. The servo rotates a little red Moon indicator around a central Earth, with our home planet surrounded by a stretched blue marker indicating the swelling of the tides as influenced by the Moon’s gravity.
If you’re a surfer or beach driver that’s always wanting to know the tidal state at a glance, this clock is for you. We’ve featured
other tide clocks before
, but never any projects that can actually influence the tides themselves. If you’ve figured out how to mess with gravity on a planetary scale, consider applying for a Nobel Prize—but do
notify the tipsline
before you do.
| 8
| 4
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8187197",
"author": "m1ke",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T22:15:23",
"content": "“we also have a big ol’ moon called Moon…” lol",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187267",
"author": "echodelta",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T02:06:14",
"content": "She has many names in many cultures, Luna comes first.My hack is to slow down a mechanical 12 hour clock to lunar position time. Take the minute hand off, hour hand is the tide. Up or down set it to correspond with local tide or just the position if visible.",
"parent_id": "8187197",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187330",
"author": "Tom G",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T07:54:38",
"content": "Won’t work in at least one major port: Southampton has four high tides per day. The water takes a while to run round the Isle of Wight.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187373",
"author": "Sophie",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T10:29:11",
"content": "Didn’t realise So’ton had 4, but I suppose it’s logical as in Cowes we often get a double high tide.Getting real time tide details is really handy when fossil hunting, I tend to use the BBC weather app (as long as i have signal)…",
"parent_id": "8187330",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187414",
"author": "Space Coast Ghost",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T12:58:27",
"content": "It uses online realtime tide data from coastal water level sensors? Why would water movement time make tide telemetry invalid?",
"parent_id": "8187330",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187804",
"author": "Conor Stewart",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T04:40:11",
"content": "Probably because the physical model assumes standard tides not any variations due to geography. If the port always has double high tides then a model with that reflected in the shape of the blue section would be better. The problem isn’t with the data but with the display. On this it may show a high tide going to low tide when in reality it goes low (not fully low) then high again then goes to low tide which wouldn’t be represented by the shape of the blue disc.",
"parent_id": "8187414",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187470",
"author": "CRJEEA",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T15:55:26",
"content": "Now to make a tide clock that uses local gravity for the calculation.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187861",
"author": "JOHN H ONEILL",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T09:14:19",
"content": "Actually the big ol moon is called Luna.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,409.179817
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/03/pulling-a-high-vacuum-with-boiling-mercury/
|
Pulling A High Vacuum With Boiling Mercury
|
Aaron Beckendorf
|
[
"Science"
] |
[
"high vacuum pump",
"mercury",
"vacuum pump"
] |
If you need to create a high vacuum, there are basically two options: turbomolecular pumps and diffusion pumps. Turbomolecular pumps require rotors spinning at many thousands of rotations per minute and must be carefully balanced to avoid a violent self-disassembly, but diffusion pumps aren’t without danger either, particularly if, like [Advanced Tinkering], you
use mercury as your working fluid
. Between the high vacuum, boiling mercury, and the previous two being contained in fragile glassware, this is a project that takes steady nerves to attempt – and could considerably unsteady those nerves if something were to go wrong.
A diffusion pump works by boiling a some working fluid – usually silicone oil – and creating a directed stream of vapor. The vapor molecules collide with air molecules and impart momentum to them, drawing them along with the vapor stream into a condenser. The condenser liquefies the working fluid, while a backing vacuum pump just past the condenser removes the entrained air molecules. The working fluid then flows back into the heating chamber to begin the cycle again. The earliest diffusion pumps did use mercury as a working fluid, a practice which has almost completely died out, but which did have one significant advantage: if, for some reason, air did flood back into the vacuum chamber, there was no risk of setting hot oil vapor on fire.
[Advanced Tinkering]’s diffusion pump is made of glass, which gives a good view of the internal process; It’s in equal parts fascinating and disquieting to see droplets of metal condensing on the glass parts. A Dewar flask of liquid nitrogen holds two cold traps to condense any mercury vapors leaving the pump: one on the line between the diffusion pump and the backing pump, and one between the diffusion pump and a vacuum gauge to make sure that mercury’s vapor pressure isn’t throwing off measurements. Another vacuum gauge is connected to the backing pump’s inlet, which lets the diffusion pump’s performance be measured. After a few hours of running, the pressure at the diffusion pump’s inlet was two orders of magnitude lower than at its outlet, and more vacuum-tight connections could probably have brought it even lower.
This isn’t [Advanced Tinkering]’s first time working with dangerous
liquid metals
, nor his first time building equipment
for high vacuum
. If you’re still looking for a safer vacuum, check out this
budget diffusion pump
.
| 21
| 5
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8187134",
"author": "Frank Wilhoit",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T19:37:11",
"content": "Liquid mercury has a notoriously high vapor pressure — that is the source of most of the element’s real-world toxicity — and it would seem that a pump in which mercury was the working fluid could, by definition, not pull a vacuum harder than that vapor pressure. What am I missing?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187150",
"author": "Cad the Mad",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T20:17:09",
"content": "He addresses this 3 minutes, 25 seconds into the video.",
"parent_id": "8187134",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187152",
"author": "SpillsDirt",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T20:17:51",
"content": "Yes LIQUID Mercury.The vapor pressure of mercury at 25°C is 0.00258 atmMercury’s boiling point is 356.7°CThe vapor pressure of mercury at itsnormal boiling point, 356.7 °C, is only 1 atmLiquid mercury is not the working fluid in this pump. Mercury vapor is.",
"parent_id": "8187134",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187153",
"author": "SpillsDirt",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T20:23:38",
"content": "Diffusion pumps basically create a mixing zone between the evacuation chambers ever decreasing gas molecules, and its working vapor. The gas molecules become entrained in the vapors flow, dragging them out. When the working vapor is condensed, the evacuated gas molecules are trapped. The working fluid is then reheated and reintroduced to the system as vapor ready to drag more gas out of the system.That will pull a pretty hard vacuum, if you want better, add getter.",
"parent_id": "8187152",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187155",
"author": "Anonymous",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T20:24:50",
"content": "If you need to create a high vacuum, there are basically two options: turbomolecular pumps and diffusion pumps.Wrong! Use a titanium getter. Cheaper than both of those options.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187160",
"author": "SpillsDirt",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T20:42:44",
"content": "A titanium getter is used for Ultra High Vacuum.You dont use them alone. You must first pre-pump the system to at least 10⁻⁴ torr. Some high-performance, two-stage rotary vane pumps can achieve an ultimate pressure of 10⁻⁴ Torr. However, this is typically the very limit of their capabilities. For reliable, sustained performance in this range, Youre looking at a turbomolecular pump, or a diffusion pump.",
"parent_id": "8187155",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187206",
"author": "Anonymous",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T22:58:18",
"content": "You must first pre-pump the system to at least 10⁻⁴ torr.No, you don’t actually need to do that. Titanium getters work at any pressure, and if sized correctly for the vessel they’re evacuating, will drop the pressure by a factor of roughly 100, since they react with all components of the atmosphere other than noble gases. Hell, if you burn them hot enough, they’ll start evaporating and trap the noble gases too! I’ve used them starting at around 10 millitorr and it was fine. Read fewer books and do more experiments.",
"parent_id": "8187160",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187217",
"author": "SpillsDirt",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T23:13:43",
"content": "10 millitorr = 10⁻³ torrso youve used them starting outside of ideal parameters at the sacrifice of longevity and efficiency. Congrats.You still used a prevacuum.The titanium film has a finite capacity for trapping gas molecules. Once the surface is saturated, it loses its ability to pump effectively. The rate of saturation depends on the gas load. At higher pressures (> 10⁻⁴ torr), saturation is rapid and requires frequent sublimation. This is why no one with an inkling of knowledge or competence uses them at higher pressures. Then there’s you.",
"parent_id": "8187206",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187265",
"author": "Anonymous",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T02:02:47",
"content": "10 millitorr = 10⁻³ torrPardon?This is why no one with an inkling of knowledge or competence uses them at higher pressures. Then there’s you.Dude it’s a titanium wire. Suck out the air with a rotary vane pump, close the valve to your chamber and burn the wire. Put a new wire in when you’re done. You don’t need to buy fancy-pants $$$ stainless steel nonsense, just two feedthroughs with some terminals to hold a wire. Please, I beg you, put down the books and try it out. It’s easy. You can achieve high vacuum for under $200. Stop being a snob.",
"parent_id": "8187217",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187291",
"author": "SpillsDirt",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T04:06:28",
"content": "https://www.edwardsvacuum.com/en-us/vacuum-pumps/knowledge/applications/working-with-ion-getter-pumps“Unfortunately, they can be poor at pumping noble gasses, require high voltage and magnetic field, and need a turbomolecular or other secondary pump to create the starting pressure.”https://www.rbdinstruments.com/blog/titanium-sublimation-pump-operation/“You can use them starting in the mid 10-4 Torr range. In fact, they are very helpful at this vacuum level in helping start the ion pumps (which need to be in the low 10-5 or better vacuum to start). Typically the TSPs are operated after loading gassy samples to help the vacuum recover more quickly from the 10-8 Torr into the 10-9 Torr range.”https://www.ibericavacuum.com/pages/tsp“TSPs can operate from 10⁻⁵ to 10⁻¹² mbar”Maybe you should stop pretending to have experience in everything and start reading a bit. Some factual knowledge will enhance the believability of your BS.",
"parent_id": "8187206",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187316",
"author": "Anonymous",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T06:42:38",
"content": "Huh. I guess I just didn’t know that what I was doing was impossible. I’ll remember that, next time I do it. Have a good one!",
"parent_id": "8187291",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187176",
"author": "Hussien",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T21:25:56",
"content": "Turbomolecular pumps require rotors spinning at many thousands of rotations per minute and must be carefully balanced to avoid a violent self-disassemblySo basicaly any turbocharger from a diesel car.You could go to a scrapyard and buy a turbo from something like VW Golf for maybe $30. Then you only need to attach an oil pump so it doesn’t seize while running. But no, let’s use the most toxicest element ever created because that’ll generate more YouTube views from SHOCKING EXTREME RADIOACTIVE TOXIC OMG YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE thumbnail crap.It’s stupid -.-",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187186",
"author": "DurDurDur",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T21:52:11",
"content": "A car turbocharger cannot be used as a substitute for a turbomolecular pump.A Turbocharger uses one rotor to scavenge energy and one rotor to generate pressure. Each of these rotors has at most a dozen vanes.A Turbomolecular pump typically has a series of 9 or more rotors, with a dozen or more vanes each.Your proposal is akin to someone proposing an F16 could use a hair dryer instead of a jet engine.",
"parent_id": "8187176",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187210",
"author": "KDawg",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T23:04:05",
"content": "My weekender has a 2 stroke that can do 15,000 rpm what’s the top speed of a Dremel 35k THOUSANDS of rpm is the joke here",
"parent_id": "8187186",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187226",
"author": "DurDurDur",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T23:22:01",
"content": "When your weekender or dremels bearings fail your out a few bucks in parts. Their balance is relatively inconsequential. You wear some low dollar parts a bit more.When a TMP fails catastrophically you can lose $5-10K in precision machined rotors.",
"parent_id": "8187210",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187266",
"author": "Kdawg",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T02:03:17",
"content": "Woosh",
"parent_id": "8187226",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187293",
"author": "Santovac5",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T04:20:31",
"content": "A turbomolecular pump is typically rotating at 70-90k rpm, with clearances between the rotor and the housing a few 100s of microns, its a touch more sensitive than your 2 stroke or dremel, and will fail catastrophically if simply exposed to atmospheric pressure when at full power.",
"parent_id": "8187210",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187207",
"author": "John",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T23:00:39",
"content": "Next time at least check Wikipedia before posting. Pretty clear your idea isn’t viable",
"parent_id": "8187176",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187208",
"author": "Anonymous",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T23:01:43",
"content": "You could go to a scrapyard and buy a turbo from something like VW Golf for maybe $30. Then you only need to attach an oil pump so it doesn’t seize while running.Huh, sounds cool. Where’s your project writeup? Youhaveactually done this, right?",
"parent_id": "8187176",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187180",
"author": "Peter",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T21:34:02",
"content": "There is also the Sprengel pump which uses Hg but forgoes the boiling. Can achieve one microPa or ~10^-11 atm.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprengel_pump",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188466",
"author": "ShotNoise",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T01:15:30",
"content": "Sorbtion pumps are another option. A sealed container of molecular sieve (porous ceramic beads) is cooled with liquid nitrogen. Immersing the pump in a styrofoam bucket full of liquid nitrogen is adequate. It is basically a cold trap as gas molecules hit cold surfaces of the sieve and can lose enough energy to stick to the surfaces (adsorption). They are removed from the volume of the chamber which is what vacuum pumping is – moving gas molecules to where you want them. Eventually the sorption pump becomes saturated and won’t pump anymore. It must be heated to drive off the gas molecules. Up side: clean, no moving parts, fairly fast pumping speed, relatively low initial cost. Oh and no mercury vapors. Sorry mad hatters. Down side: it requires some (not crazy) amount of liquid nitrogen and time for regeneration.One thing not mentioned in the video is the skill required to shape the glass. Beautiful.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,409.708789
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/03/hackaday-podcast-episode-340-the-best-programming-language-space-surgery-and-hacking-two-3d-printers-into-one/
|
Hackaday Podcast Episode 340: The Best Programming Language, Space Surgery, And Hacking Two 3D Printers Into One
|
Al Williams
|
[
"Hackaday Columns",
"Podcasts"
] |
[
"Hackaday Podcast"
] |
Elliot Williams and Al Williams got together to share their favorite hacks of the week with you. If you listen in, you’ll hear exciting news about the upcoming SuperCon and the rare occurrence of Al winning the What’s That Sound game.
For hacks, the guys talk about the IEEE’s take on the “best” programming languages of 2025 and how they think AI is going to fundamentally transform the job of a programmer. On a lighter note, there’s an industrial robot who retired to bartending, a minimal drum machine, a high-powered laser, and a Fortran flight simulator reborn with Unity 3D.
In the “can’t miss” category, you’ll learn how not to switch Linux distributions and what to expect when you need surgery while on your next mission to outer space.
There’s lots more. Want to follow along? Check out the links below. As always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!
Or
download in DRM-free MP3 playable even over 56K modems
.
Where to Follow Hackaday Podcast
Places to follow Hackaday podcasts:
iTunes
Spotify
Stitcher
RSS
YouTube
Check
out our Libsyn landing page
Episode 340 Show Notes:
News:
2025 Hackaday Speakers, Round One! And Spoilers
What’s that Sound?
Al made short work of the sound again this week, racking up an uncharacteristic streak of two. Congrats to [Absolutely the Best Podcast: A Work in Progress] for getting the printing press right too!
Interesting Hacks of the Week:
Ask Hackaday: What’s The Top Programming Language Of 2025
Robot Bartender Is The Life Of The Party
The Making Of A Minimalist Analog Drum Machine
Logic Noise: Sweet, Sweet Oscillator Sounds
Improved 3D Printer Cannibalizes Two Older Printers
Driving A Laser At 200 Volts For Nanoseconds
http://www.lasersam.org/sam/lasersam.htm
Porting A Fortran Flight Simulator To Unity3D
Quick Hacks:
Elliot’s Picks:
3D Print Smoothing, With Lasers
Segger’s Awkward USB-C Issue With The J-Link Compact Debugger
YouTube… Over Dial Up
Kinethreads: A Low Cost Haptic Exo-Suit
Al’s Picks:
An FPGA-Based Mechanical Keyboard
Creating Python GUIs With GIMP
NTRON Plays Games, Music
Can’t-Miss Articles:
Ask Hackaday: How Do You Distro Hop?
Distrobox
A Cut Above: Surgery In Space, Now And In The Future
| 0
| 0
|
[] | 1,760,371,409.53809
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/03/a-treasure-trove-of-random-vintage-tech-resources/
|
A Treasure Trove Of Random Vintage Tech Resources
|
Lewin Day
|
[
"classic hacks",
"Retrocomputing"
] |
[
"archive",
"diskettes",
"disks"
] |
Finding, collecting, and restoring vintage tech is the rewarding pastime of many a Hackaday reader. Working with old-school gear can be tough, though, when documentation or supporting resources are hard to find. If you’re in need of an old manual or a little scrap of software,
you might find the Vintage Technology Digital Archive (VTDA) a useful destination.
The VTDA is a simple website. There is no search function, or fancy graphical way to browse the resources on offer. Instead, it’s merely a collection of files in a well-ordered directory tree. Click through /pics/DiskSleeves/VTDA/ and you’ll find a collection of high-resolution scans of various old diskettes and their packaging. /docs/computing/Centronics/ will give you all kinds of useful documentation, from press releases to datasheets for printers long forgotten. You can even find
Heathkit schematics
and
old Windows bootdisk images
if you dive into the depths.
While it doesn’t have everything, by any means, the VTDA has lots of interesting little bits and pieces that you might not find anywhere else. It’s a great counterpart to
other archival efforts out on the web
, particularly if you’re a member of the retrocomputing massive.
Thanks to [Itay] for the tip!
| 7
| 4
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8187112",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T18:40:23",
"content": "haha wild – i randomly wound up looking at a Sams service manual for the ibm 5150, and i just stumbled onto information i was actively seeking 24 years ago when someone asked me to try to recover data on his old PC. a lot more detail than i expected, from an era where people would troubleshoot components and sub-assemblies instead of replacing.a little late, but still a trip",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187227",
"author": "Dan Boris",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T23:22:12",
"content": "Sites like this bring me back to the early days of the internet when it was primarly a treasure trove of obscure information.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187241",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T00:04:50",
"content": "I miss them. Many are gone, many are archived and some are still on-line.The search engine wiby.me can be used to find traditional websites.Some are old, some are still being updated, some are new.",
"parent_id": "8187227",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187243",
"author": "Grumpy Old Coot",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T00:14:04",
"content": "I miss that era. Back when you could actually find useful information without it being behind a paywall, a “free subscription required,” or similar. And way back when… just a few years ago… when you did not have to wonder if what you were reading was some LLM’s hallucination (Looking at you three, Bing, Google, and Apple.)",
"parent_id": "8187227",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187261",
"author": "irox",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T01:55:07",
"content": "“There is no search function”Just put “site:https://vtda.org/docs” + whatever you want to query for, in google.com (or other search engines). While not a builtin website search function, it is sometimes more effective results.https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fvtda.org%2Fdocs",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187264",
"author": "irox",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T01:55:40",
"content": "I meant to add: vtda.org is super cool.",
"parent_id": "8187261",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187352",
"author": "Valentijn Sessink",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T09:11:28",
"content": "s/random/pseudo random/g ftfy 😜",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,409.75554
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/03/this-week-in-security-cvss-0-chwoot-and-not-in-the-threat-model/
|
This Week In Security: CVSS 0, Chwoot, And Not In The Threat Model
|
Jonathan Bennett
|
[
"Hackaday Columns",
"Security Hacks"
] |
[
"chroot",
"CVSS",
"SEV",
"sudo",
"This Week in Security"
] |
This week a reader sent me
a story about a CVE in Notepad++
, and something isn’t quite right. The story is a DLL hijack, a technique where a legitimate program’s Dynamic Link Library (DLL) is replaced with a malicious DLL. This can be used for very stealthy persistence as well as escalation of privilege. This one was assigned
CVE-2025-56383
, and given a CVSS score of 8.4.
The problem? Notepad++ doesn’t run as a privileged user, and the install defaults to the right permissions for the folder where the “vulnerable” DLL is installed. Or as pointed out
in a GitHub issue on the Proof of Concept (PoC) code, why not just hijack the notepad++ executable
?
This is key when evaluating a vulnerability write-up. What exactly is the write-up claiming? And what security boundary is actually being broken? The Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) list can be useful here. This vulnerability is classified as CWE-427, an uncontrolled search path element — which isn’t actually what the vulnerability claims, and that’s another clue that something is amiss here. In reality this “vulnerability” applies to every application that uses a DLL: a CVSS 0.
Smish Boxes
There’s a trend to replace land lines with cellular modems. While wearing my phone tech hat, I’ve even installed a few cellular routers in hotel telecom closets. It turns out there’s a potential problem with that particular arrangement. Hotels and other commercial installations often assign a public IP address to each piece of equipment, and as a result it’s not uncommon for that equipment to be directly exposed to the Internet. And what happens when cellular routers are exposed to the Internet, sometimes with vulnerabilities or even default credentials? Naturally,
scammers use them to send spammy SMS messages
.
The scale of the problem is surprising. After researchers at Sekoia discovered the problem, they discovered 18,000 of these devices accessible on the Internet. It seems like this campaign may be responsible for the majority of the SMS spam being sent in modern smishing campaigns. It also appears that there may be an unknown 0-day being exploited in the campaign.
VMWare
VMware just fixed CVE-2025-41244, a local privilege escalation vulnerability that
has been in use in the wild since at least October of last year
. This vulnerability is in the service discovery feature of VMware Aria. The idea is that the installed VMware Tools can discover running services and probe for version numbers.
On a Linux guest, this probe works by listing the currently running processes, and if the a process matches one of the regular expressions, that process is run with the
-v
flag. As root. Yes, this vulnerability that was being actively exploited in the wild by a Chinese threat actor for over a year, was as simple as an over-matching regex and carelessly running binaries as root. The trick favored by the attackers was to place a malicious binary at
/tmp/httpd
, run it as a regular user, and just wait for the VMware tooling to come along and run it as root.
Sudo Chwoot
The maintainers behind
sudo
fixed
a pair of vulnerabilities
back in June that allowed a
local attacker to escalate privileges
. The most interesting of the two abuses is in the handling of the chroot option, resulting in an attack [Rich Mirch] refers to as “chwoot”.
The actual weakness is that
sudo
would use the
chroot()
system call while setting up the chroot environment, prior to dropping privileges. In this state,
sudo
performs Name Service Switch calls as root, which results in looking for
/etc/nsswitch.conf
inside the chroot directory. This config file can trigger a shared library load, and since it’s happening in the context of a chroot, that library is also first loaded from the chroot directory if it exists there, resulting in a handy escalation to root.
This behavior is enabled for all users by default, resulting in a serious vulnerability on many Linux machines. It was fixed and disclosed back in June, but
has now been added to the CISA list
of known exploited vulnerabilities.
Not in the Threat Model
Intel and AMD both have trusted computing solutions for encrypted VMs, that among other things, encrypt the bits in memory so even a compromised kernel can’t extract data from the running VM. The approaches from both companies are similar, using symmetric encryption with the memory location as part of the encryption Initialization Vector (IV). This means that while the same key is in use, a plaintext value in a given memory location will always be represented by the same encrypted value. Two pieces of research came out this week suggesting that
this codebook-like behavior has security ramifications
.
Before we dive into the rest of the details, it’s worth pointing out that asymmetric encryption is likely not a viable option for VM memory encryption, due to the processing latency overhead. The exploit here is to physically connect to the memory sticks inside a target computer, and record the encrypted bits. In some cases, an attacker can later run a malicious VM on the same hardware, and use the physical hack to replay the captured bits, allowing easy decryption. Another option is to replay the VM attestation report, falsely claiming that the virtual machine is still fully protected.
What’s initially surprising is that both Intel and AMD have maintained that their SGX and SEV-SNP systems are not intended to protect against physical access. But seeing what is possible with physical modification to system memory, it’s no longer a surprising line to draw. The other interesting note is that so far these attacks are limited to DDR4, as DDR5 memory has a higher data rate, making the entire operation even more difficult.
Bit and Bytes
Red Hat has confirmed that
one of its GitLab instances was compromised by Crimson Collective
, leading to the exfiltration of over 500 GB of data. This seems to include customer data related to consulting contracts.
RCE Security dug into a product called TRUfusion Enterprise, a data transfer solution that is marketed as undergoing regular audits. It came as a surprise that they found
four vulnerabilities that could be called low-hanging fruit
. The takeaway: not all audits are created equal, and there’s no guarantee that this style of code review will catch every bug.
Our last two links are both about memory management. The first is from Cybervelia, looking at
how to find uninitialized memory access
with just a program binary and no source code. Binary Ninja is the tool that really shines here, but it’s certainly not an easy task.
The other is the latest from Google’s Project Zero, taking a look at
some non-obvious ways to defeat Address Layout Randomization
using careful analysis of hash tables. Very in-depth work, and on-brand for Project Zero. Enjoy!
| 4
| 3
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8187140",
"author": "limroh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T19:48:08",
"content": "Dunno if this is just a coincidence but Unity “apparently” has a CVE with a CVSS Score of 8.4But from the actual description this seems grossly overestimated – AFAICT it’s a non issue because if an attacker has the power to change command line arguments….Seehttps://unity.com/security/sept-2025-01/remediation#platform-specificand possiblyhttps://unity.com/security/sept-2025-01I don’t see how this is a privilege escalation at all?!Vulnerability Type: CWE-426: Untrusted Search Path",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187473",
"author": "limroh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T16:03:53",
"content": "Forgot to ask for other opinions.I’m not a security researcher, just someone who thinks to have a wide and good but still superficial understanding of IT security (from little bobby tables over NOP-slides to XSS & whatnot).So I’m not that certain about my assessment above.",
"parent_id": "8187140",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187244",
"author": "Pete",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T00:14:13",
"content": "listing the currently running processes, and if the a process matches one of the regular expressions, that process is run with the -v flag. As root.What genius thought this was a good idea?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187423",
"author": "x0rpunk",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T13:33:46",
"content": "SEV-SNP isn’t a TEE.. I think you meant Intel TDX…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,409.81058
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/03/giant-airplane-goes-long-on-specialization/
|
Giant Airplane Goes Long On Specialization
|
Tyler August
|
[
"Transportation Hacks"
] |
[
"aircraft",
"single-purpose",
"wind power"
] |
While not everyone agrees on the installation of wind turbines in their proverbial back yards, one thing not up for debate is that there is a drive to build them bigger, and bigger. Big turbines means big blades, and big blades need to be transported… somehow. If air freight is going to stay relevant to the industry,
we’re gonna need a bigger airplane
.
A startup called Radia has a plan for that plane, and it is a doosie. The “WindRunner” would clock in at a massive 108 meters (354 feet) long, but with a wingspan of just 80 m (262 ft). That’s very, very long, but it might not be the largest airplane,
depending how you measure it.
Comparing to the 88 m wingspan for the
late, lamented An-225 Mriya,
you can expect a lower payload capacity, but heavy payloads aren’t the point here. Wind turbine blades really aren’t that heavy. They’re big, or they can be — the WindRunner is designed to fit a single 105 m blade within its long fuselage, or a pair of 90 m blades.
You can tell it has one job; there’s just 3 m difference in length between the blade and the plane. Image: Radia.
That’s very little clearance, which is why the cockpit sits up top in a bulge that makes the thing look a bit like an enormous Carvair, for anyone who remembers that old prop-job — except for the H-tail, that is. That’s for a different reason than the An-225’s use of the same feature, which was to keep the tails out of the wash of
a back-mounted “Buran” space shuttle
. With the WindRunner, the H-tail is simply so the tail will not be too tall to fit existing airport infrastructure. The Lockheed Constellation used a triple-tail for the same reason, way back when.
The Carvair, another cargo hauler with exactly one job. It was actually based on a DC-4, and not a Convair, but for a car carrier the name fits.
Image: Eduard Marmet, CC3.0
The aircraft will of course be short-runway and rough-field capable, capable of taking off and landing on dry packed dirt or gravel in just 1,800 m, or 6000 ft — a little more than 10x its own enormous length. The payload it hauls into those rough fields will break no records at only 72.6 tonnes; Mriya could do 250 tonnes, but again, heavy lift isn’t the goal here.
This plane has a very specific mission, to the point that we argue it might just qualify as a hack. It will be interesting to see if Radia can sign enough customers to get one (or more) built.
| 63
| 13
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8186997",
"author": "Brian",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T11:24:46",
"content": "The concept is interesting. I think their stated timeline (flying by 2030) is so laughably unrealistic as to make me seriously wonder if the whole thing is a scam. Or perhaps their CEO is just taking classes at the Elon Musk school of “just say whatever date vibes best.” We all remember when that Dragon capsule landed on Mars back in 2018, don’t we?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187068",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T15:39:16",
"content": "i really don’t know what all goes into production of something like this. But it will be a lot less than goes into a ‘regular’ mass-produced plane. It doesn’t need to prove it’s safe enough to carry passengers. It doesn’t need to have an assembly line designed / optimized to produce dozens or hundreds of them. It doesn’t need to invent a uniform pilot training regimen for the thousands of commercial pilots.It seems a lot more like the Rutan Voyager than like other planes. Every prototype will potentially be the finished product as well. And Voyager managed to go from dream to completion in just over 6 years, and only about 2.5 years of flight testing. And on a shoe-string budget and doing totally novel processes with a development team that wasn’t familiar with building large airplanes at all.I don’t know what these guys’ plan really is but it’s not inconceivable to me. i don’t think they’re doing anything too novel, and it seems like they might attract a big investment because people are already spending a bunch of money to solve this problem. That is, if they can actually convince anyone this will be long-term cheaper / more effective.",
"parent_id": "8186997",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187075",
"author": "Brian",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T16:18:35",
"content": "Voyager was an experimental airplane for a singular purpose.These guys are planning commercial use, which, even if it’s just ONE airframe, means it will need to be certified by the FAA. That’s an entirely different ballgame.If you told me you wanted to have a clean sheet general aviation aircraft flying in 5 years, I’d believe it could be done and would still put the odds at under 50% of it actually happening.Something this large and complex? (Much, much more complex, systems-wise, than Voyager). I’d be willing to wager a pretty large chunk of money that it won’t ever be built (not because it’s impossible, more because business), and and even larger chunk that if it is, it will not be in 2030.",
"parent_id": "8187068",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187093",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T17:30:31",
"content": "this ismuchsimpler than Voyager, mostly because it’s not trying to do anything new. it’s a very “regular” airplane by modern standards but with a swollen ballooned body.and another Rutan airplane, White Knight, shows that it’s possible for commercial operators to do experimental aircraft on a reasonably short schedule. i don’t know any details, but clearly experimental aircraft / one-offs are not limited to amateurs.but i agree i’d put it less than 50% even though i rate it possible. :)",
"parent_id": "8187075",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187240",
"author": "Aknup",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T23:54:24",
"content": "FAA? I thought Tr*mp banned windmills? Anyway, perhaps the US is not the target market here? I mean China for instance is pretty large and needs their wings transported too.And there is south/middle America and the European continent, theoretically you could run this business without ever looking at the US and their iffy governmental orgs.",
"parent_id": "8187075",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188213",
"author": "MilesT",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T11:56:42",
"content": "If not the FAA, then EASA (Europe), with FAA then rubber stamping the EASA approval.The way to build this quickly is to see if there is an existing airframe that can be extended (height and length) to reduce development time. Boeing and Airbus large transporters were built that way. Start with something already large/long/thin (A340, A350, B777, or AN125 or Galaxy. Maybe don’t have cockpit up top, but hinge the front (like the old Super Guppy large transporter).The other option is to work out if there is any possible way to engineer turbine blades in sections that can be assembled at or near site (may need a transportable autoclave to cure a composite join).Finally blade transport is more of an onshore wind issue.Offshore or near water–just use ships, barges and SPMT and mobile cnes (all proven capability). Maybe develop a SPMT that uses tracks for rougher terrain instead of multiple big tyres, and/or incorporates carrying and lifting capability into one unit. And for longer distance sea transport, a carrying rig that is compatible with container ships (spanning multiple TEU stacks).",
"parent_id": "8187240",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187078",
"author": "Piotrsko",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T16:22:02",
"content": "I agree but with one exception: where do you get a 6000 ft by 200ft runway close to turbines?",
"parent_id": "8187068",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187087",
"author": "asheets",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T17:04:57",
"content": "It is supposed to be rough-field capable. We’ll see.",
"parent_id": "8187078",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187082",
"author": "SteveS",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T16:51:03",
"content": "While I agree with you that it’s kinda crazy to imagine that such a huge one trick pony makes any kind of economic sense, much less that it could be built on a 5 year schedule, we should remember that this sort of crazy thing has been done before.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scaled_Composites_Stratolaunchhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughes_H-4_Herculeshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_Spacelines_Super_GuppyYou just gotta be crazy enough to do it.",
"parent_id": "8186997",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187086",
"author": "asheets",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T17:03:35",
"content": "OF these three, the Guppies are the only profitable ones.",
"parent_id": "8187082",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187089",
"author": "SteveS",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T17:10:20",
"content": "So, you’re saying “crazy big airplanes” are batting .333. That… might actually be better than most big aerospace projects. Certainly good enough for a nice MLB contract.",
"parent_id": "8187086",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187433",
"author": "Charles Springer",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T14:12:12",
"content": "But 3 times better than a Silicon Valley Startup.",
"parent_id": "8187086",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188265",
"author": "MilesT",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T14:43:17",
"content": "Some of the very big planes that exist may not be profitable on a standalone basis, but were built to enable other profitable businesses (moving parts to build other planes). e.g. Airbus Beluga/Beluga XL (leveraging existing Airbus airframes, second life in some cases), and the Boeing Dreamlifter (which leveraged an existing airplane design but I think are newbuilds).Yes Airbus’ “private hire” division (hiring out Belugas) wasn’t profitable and was closed down.",
"parent_id": "8187086",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188445",
"author": "Tim Welch",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T23:13:24",
"content": "Most likely not gonna happen. There are all kinds of designs in the history of aviation that came to bupkus. Grand claims of capacity or speed litter history. The timeline for having it ready is nigh upon a stoner’s dream. Just gonna put this on a shelf.",
"parent_id": "8186997",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8186998",
"author": "Bill Nye",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T11:32:41",
"content": "How many years does it take for the windmill to offset the carbon generated by 6 flights (3x blades, there and back)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187011",
"author": "Iván Stepaniuk",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T12:36:11",
"content": "Less than a month, VERY conservative calculation for a 3MW wind turbine replacing equivalent gas generators, and 3 hour per flight. If replacing coal, just days.",
"parent_id": "8186998",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187172",
"author": "Dee",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T21:18:46",
"content": "Thanks Ivan +1",
"parent_id": "8187011",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187013",
"author": "Krzysztof",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T12:37:26",
"content": "If we consider that 200m diameter wind turbine generates maximally 12MW (12MWh each hour), and that typical airliner burns about 8000 gallons of diesel each hour (that’s equivalent of 323MWh each hour), then each hour of flight requires 26 hours of full power operation. So, for a 6 hour flight, that would be a week under full power.",
"parent_id": "8186998",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187044",
"author": "Iván Stepaniuk",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T14:17:15",
"content": "I think Bill is asking how long would it take to offset the carbon emissions of the flights, not how long it will take to generate the same energy.",
"parent_id": "8187013",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187049",
"author": "Sam",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T14:28:16",
"content": "Those are the same thing. A turbine offsets carbon emissions by generating energy from wind which prevents fuel from needing to be burned at a conventional power plant.",
"parent_id": "8187044",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187121",
"author": ".",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T19:07:28",
"content": "I take a 747-400F using a full tank of gas for a return trip- 200,000L @43MJ/L = 8.3days @12MW.If you were instead burning the Jet A1 in a combined cycle power station at 60% efficiency = 14 days.If you allow for UK windfarm capacity factor for recent large turbine of 40% =31days.(https://wattdirection.substack.com/p/uk-offshore-wind-capacity-factors)And if you allowed for 2/3 blades capacity = 46 days",
"parent_id": "8187013",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188910",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T20:02:11",
"content": "Capacity factors for wind range from 25% to 45%.40% is cherry picking, but better then assuming 100%.I’d assume the super large windmills would go in places with steady wind.Carbon generated by a flight isn’t just the fuel, it’s a share of the airport cost, the crew’s life costs, a share of the aircraft cost.All accounting can be done in CO2 if it makes the GD hippies happy.Of course I’ve been previously told capacity factor is just a made up thing to make renewables look bad, but not by anybody who knew what they were talking about.",
"parent_id": "8187121",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187033",
"author": "Charles Springer",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T13:38:17",
"content": "Assuming the plane is far more reliable than the wind turbine.",
"parent_id": "8186998",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187003",
"author": "Jeremy Cook",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T12:00:06",
"content": "A carbon goose?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187016",
"author": "mswope",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T12:58:59",
"content": "How did they not decide to call it “Blade Runner?”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187032",
"author": "Dan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T13:35:28",
"content": "Because when you’re cruising at 30,000 ft, a takedown notice could be catastrophic 😂",
"parent_id": "8187016",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187083",
"author": "Truth",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T16:56:20",
"content": "It is possibly already a trademark.",
"parent_id": "8187016",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187535",
"author": "socksbot",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T18:52:07",
"content": "Trademarks are registered for specific classes of products or services.",
"parent_id": "8187083",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187224",
"author": "Rick Deckard",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T23:21:41",
"content": "This.",
"parent_id": "8187016",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187019",
"author": "BT",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T13:07:21",
"content": "So it’s easier/cheaper to design a new plane than multipart wind turbine blades that could be assembled on site?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187057",
"author": "bob",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T14:55:53",
"content": "currently it’s impossible to create a multipart blade, so yes, you are correct.",
"parent_id": "8187019",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187079",
"author": "Brian",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T16:25:05",
"content": "Hmm, interesting. I’ve wondered why they don’t do this, i assumed there was a good reason but I didn’t realize it was that big of a challenge. Consider me nerd sniped, now I have something to look up!",
"parent_id": "8187057",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187090",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T17:24:16",
"content": "I’d have to argue it isn’t actually impossible. But you really want the turbine to be as light as it can possibly be and still do the job under the wind load (which as these scales is considerable) as that lets it spin up easier, makes building the tower and attaching the blade bits easier and faster. And you really really don’t want more critical points of failure that might fling a half tone or more of blade tip a very very long way – so single part in the end composite structures just end up seeming much more optimal.",
"parent_id": "8187079",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187138",
"author": ".",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T19:41:28",
"content": "Another way of viewing it, is that if it is possible to make in N metres long with a join, then it is possible to make it N*k longer without the join. Because the higher you get the blades from the ground the more power you get, it is even less material for the same power output.The delivery issue of future even bigger blades, will add more advantages to offshore where you can deliver directly by barge, or perhaps to huge windfarms that are big enough to site a blade factory within a straight line drive, or perhaps a semi-mobile blade factory.",
"parent_id": "8187079",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187037",
"author": "RichC",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T13:56:22",
"content": "Carvair? they could’ve gone with DC4R.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187038",
"author": "Zeph Dulin",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T13:58:20",
"content": "Does the blade need to go inside the plane? Seems like this gets easier if not.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187071",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T15:49:31",
"content": "haha i was thinking the same thing. It seems super impossible because the blade has its own (asymmetric) aerodynamic shape that will be really difficult to design around…but you can imagine an asymmetric airframe that compensates for it.Seems like the trade off is a massive increase in the complexity and novelty of the aerodynamic modelling, in exchange for a decrease in the construction costs, and possibly operational costs too (loading/unloading/fueling).",
"parent_id": "8187038",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188268",
"author": "MilesT",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T14:46:53",
"content": "But maybe the whole blade doesn’t need to be in the plane. Have the tip stick out of the back, maybe with an aerodynamic cover to smooth out the air flow, or maybe pairs of blades positioned so the air flow changes balance out.That might be possible with a modification of a Beluga XL or a Dreamlifter.",
"parent_id": "8187071",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187077",
"author": "Grounded",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T16:21:09",
"content": "Suppose you were setting up 4 wind turbines. Seems much like a single quadcopter to me…",
"parent_id": "8187038",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187080",
"author": "Brian",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T16:26:44",
"content": "They’re also trying to market the idea to other customers, including the military. Having a proper cargo bay that can handle things other than a windmill blade expands the potential customer base.",
"parent_id": "8187038",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187040",
"author": "Snarkenstein",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T14:04:45",
"content": "I can’t help wondering … what if by the time they get this built, the real market is in 125 meter blades?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187538",
"author": "socksbot",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T18:54:16",
"content": "Still a lot of market left for the previous size, especially replacements.",
"parent_id": "8187040",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187043",
"author": "Snarkenstein",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T14:16:42",
"content": "Oooh! Oooh! New idea: Bolt the blades on the sides of the plane to use them as wings! Of course, then you have to tow the plane home with a tractor …",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187051",
"author": "Mel",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T14:32:18",
"content": "Was thinking similar, but more along the lines of the blades (all three) being the rotor for a gigantic gyrocopter, with the pylon being the body. You could even use the generator to spin the blades up a bit and and/or just provide the propulsion.Simples…",
"parent_id": "8187043",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187064",
"author": "anl0000007",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T15:25:07",
"content": "@Mel and @Snarkenstein are on to something.Self transporting cargo",
"parent_id": "8187051",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187072",
"author": "Tyler August",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T16:03:51",
"content": "The gyrocopter idea is an amazing hack. Someone should do a scale model to see how badly the blade geometry does.",
"parent_id": "8187051",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187122",
"author": ".",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T19:13:49",
"content": "You wouldn’t need any Jet A1 if you fitted it with trolley-poles and just flew along the electricity grid.A 200m diameter gyro copter at 100m, would certainly be memorable.",
"parent_id": "8187051",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188912",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T20:06:00",
"content": "You have to build half the turbines as lefties.Any Latin student will tell you that left is evil.It’s not just commies.",
"parent_id": "8187043",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187059",
"author": "DOugl",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T14:57:30",
"content": "Why not hire a couple of Goodyear blimps during the week while they are doing nothing else.In other words, a lighter than air vehicle vs heavier than air.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187067",
"author": "matt",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T15:32:01",
"content": "72.6 tonnes per wing. Maybe if you lifted one blimp with another blimp, and another…",
"parent_id": "8187059",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187069",
"author": "John",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T15:40:09",
"content": "Nice idea but lots of problems with the implementation. The Goodyear blimps can only carry a maximum of 5,181lbs while a single blade can weigh in excess of 14,000lbs. The blimps cruise at 40mph and have a max speed of 78mph, so while they burn less fuel at 9 to 10 gallons per hour, it’ll take them longer to get from point A to point B, thus negating that benefit. Now, if we still had something like the Hindenburg around, it could lift 511,000 lbs, though its max speed was 84mph.References:https://www.airships.net/goodyear-blimp/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindenburg-class_airship",
"parent_id": "8187059",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187445",
"author": "Cogidubnus Rex",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T14:52:53",
"content": "So you have 3 blimps side by side carrying one blade. Attached partly via bungee ropes to help even out the strain between the three. Heck why not add a 4th for RAIB5?",
"parent_id": "8187069",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187073",
"author": "Tyler August",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T16:06:00",
"content": "LTA is an option, but they’ve got huge sail area. It turns out that the places people want to put wind turbines tend to be windy, which makes for very awkward handling.",
"parent_id": "8187059",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188913",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T20:07:47",
"content": "When posting dumbass suggestions it’s traditional to start with the word ‘Just’.",
"parent_id": "8187059",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187084",
"author": "asheets",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T17:01:22",
"content": "Read on on of the USAF news aggregators that this concept is also being pitched as a potential strategic airlift replacement for the C-5 and C-17 platforms.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187096",
"author": "SteveS",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T17:46:33",
"content": "I saw that too, but I think it’s more aspirational and “let’s get some press” than real.The specs on Windrunner seem to be pretty optimized to be the equivalent of last-mile-delivery system for wind turbine parts, getting them from the port to the inconveniently located inland windmill farms which have to be where the wind actually blows.Windrunner’s cargo bay, while huge, is awkwardly shaped and unpressurized. It’s actual lift capacity is pretty small, and it’s range is limited, it’ll never do a transPac without a couple of hops.None of these things matter to moving a fiberglass turbine blade, but will be kind of important to military customers, who tend to move heavy, dense cargo, which sometimes needs to breathe, with trans-oceanic range.The weight thing is especially important. It’s the reason the Airbus 380 never made it as a cargo carrier. It had enormous volume to offer, but only had about the same lift capacity as a 747. Once you started packing in cargo containers you would run out of weight way before you would fill the thing up.",
"parent_id": "8187084",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187114",
"author": "Tyler August",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T18:51:53",
"content": "This is true, but some things the military hauls– like Helicopters– are volume-limited, not mass-limited. I doubt the Pentagon would finance a production run of these beauties, but I could see them contracting one out on occasion if a fleet happened to get built. The range would still be a problem, though.",
"parent_id": "8187096",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187130",
"author": ".",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T19:30:32",
"content": "I could see it as standard wings, standard engines, a standard tail, standard heavy dirt-strip landing gear, standard cockpit/cabins, standard nose-lift system.Then you would need decent software to layout and model a custom fuselage for a particular need, which seems entirely do-able for a non-passenger freighter, which doesn’t need to be super optimised in any way – just capable of doing it’s job.So now you just need a manufacturing process to allow the quickish building of very large 1 off composite fuselages, so you can make one before the market need disappears.At this point I would see making another custom freighter within the basic lift capacity as a 1 year job.A good business for Ukraine/Antonov",
"parent_id": "8187096",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187522",
"author": "Raymond Gaschk",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T18:06:50",
"content": "Why not manufacture blades and other components at or near the use site, move small parts by land transport , save all this argument for some other application.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188270",
"author": "MilesT",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T14:56:24",
"content": "Solid reasons why not covered further up the stream. If possible at all likely would need an onsite autoclave to join the bits mode of composites together in a way that is lightweight but strong. The autoclave would need to sit on level ground and need power (so maybe sited a few miles away); it might not need to be as long as the blade but that brings other challenges of pressure sealing around the blade components while the join composites are cured with heat and pressure.An autoclave would be heavy; although might be more mobile across the ground than the blades (even more mobile if made in parts–sealing issues though). You could even consider making an autoclave that is self mobile (i.e. permanently mounted on a platform derived from a SPMT). It would be quite slow to move around, though, an exceptional load it’s own right for height and weight. The nearest similar example of a move would be oil rig move (as seen on Ice Road Truckers, or other “popular” heavy haul media moving chemical reactor towers).",
"parent_id": "8187522",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189262",
"author": "Iván Stepaniuk",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T09:59:18",
"content": "Composites of this size are black magic. AFAIK, only a handful of manufacturers in the world can produce 100+ meter blades. Just 2 in the US (TPI Composites and GE Vernova). The parts need to go into a humongous autoclave.",
"parent_id": "8187522",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187777",
"author": "Thinkerer",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T02:41:27",
"content": "This seems to be a case of “We can, but should we?”How much of a premium would wind turbine components carry if they’re delivered (on schedule) in three days rather than (on schedule) in three weeks? I doubt it would be enough to pay for the design, development, testing, and certification of gargantuan single-purpose aircraft?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189258",
"author": "Iván Stepaniuk",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T09:52:34",
"content": "This is driven by purely economic forces, if this exists it’s probably because it’s cheaper this way.",
"parent_id": "8187777",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
}
] | 1,760,371,409.646036
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/03/air-quality-monitor-plays-game-of-life/
|
Air Quality Monitor PlaysGame Of Life
|
Lewin Day
|
[
"Games",
"home hacks"
] |
[
"air quality",
"Raspberry Pi Pico W",
"sgp40"
] |
The problem with air quality is that you can’t really tell how good or bad it is just by looking…unless it’s
really
bad, that is. It’s usually more helpful to have some kind of sensor that can tell you what the deal is.
To that end, [Arnov Sharma] built a neat air quality monitor with a fun twist.
A Raspberry Pi Pico W acts as the heart of the build, armed with an SGP40 gas sensor. This sensor is intended for monitoring total volatile organic compounds in the air, which can be a useful measure of air quality in at least one dimension. It reports a simple air quality score from 0 to 500, based on a 1-1000 ppm ethanol equivalent reading. Based on the sensor’s output, the Pi Pico drives an LED matrix display — setting it green for good quality air, yellow for moderate, and red for poor air quality (i.e. high VOC content). The fun part is that rather than just show a simple color, the display plays Conway’s
Game of Life
to create an animated visual. We’d love it even more if poor air quality lead to the premature death of individual cells, making it even more interactive.
We’ve featured other air quality monitors before; often,
it’s desirable to monitor CO2 levels to determine whether more ventilation is needed.
| 8
| 4
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8186956",
"author": "Andrzej",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T09:04:00",
"content": "Come on, what’s with the flashing? I can only assume that this looks at least passable in real life, so please bump the camera exposure time or increase the strobe frequency…This level of attention to detail gives an impression that this was meant to be more of an ad for the PCB manufacturer than an actual project.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187009",
"author": "Hjal",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T12:18:25",
"content": "If you’re looking for a conversation (I assume so, otherwise why would you post a comment?) I would advise you to focus on the content of the video instead of the form.",
"parent_id": "8186956",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187015",
"author": "sbrk",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T12:51:39",
"content": "No ozone or PM2.5 sensor? Cute, but not very useful.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188315",
"author": "CircuitGuy",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T17:13:20",
"content": "Toxic measurements insufficient for the HaD comment section – sounds about right",
"parent_id": "8187015",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187053",
"author": "DougM",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T14:44:25",
"content": "I think it would be far more effective if the game was affected by the air quality. If the air quality is really bad all the creatures (sprites? elements?) would be flopping around at the bottom of the screen.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187099",
"author": "fluffy",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T18:00:40",
"content": "Conway’s Game of Life doesn’t really work that way but what the AQI sensor could do is influence the number of random spawns/deaths on the board. I’d think that higher AQI = more spawns would be a great way to make the visual work, since that’d lead to a more cluttered and chaotic board, having the pixels represent pollution rather than life.",
"parent_id": "8187053",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188316",
"author": "CircuitGuy",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T17:16:09",
"content": "Fits well too – since mold is part of VOCs – like a little simulation of all the bacteria.Also the effect could be accomplished with a number of off screen glider generators :) more bacteria, more generatorsCool project!",
"parent_id": "8187099",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187828",
"author": "Eddy 4 ShoT",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T07:42:41",
"content": "Pollution in some cases is life, just one that found a way!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,409.859447
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/02/yes-gemini-a-wii-server-is-possible/
|
Yes, Gemini, A Wii Server Is Possible
|
Tyler August
|
[
"Nintendo Wii Hacks"
] |
[
"ArchPower",
"file server",
"minecraft server",
"Wii-Linux"
] |
When [Reit Tech] needed something to do with an old Nintendo Wii, he turned to Google. When the AI overview told him it could not be used as a server, he had his mission:
prove that clanker wrong.
It already runs Doom, so what else is there to do?
Of course should not that hard: Linux has been available on the Wii for years now. In fact there are several; he settles on “Arch, btw”, after trying Debian, Ubuntu, and even NetBSD. “Of course it runs NetBSD”– but NetBSD didn’t work with his USB network adapter, which is sadly as predictable as the hardware running NetBSD.
OK, it’s not vanilla Arch; it’s the Wii-Linux Continuation Project, based on ArchPOWER fork that compiles Arch for PPC. As the young YouTuber was surprised to discover, despite not being a PC or particularly powerful, the Wii has a PowerPC CPU. (He might be younger than the console, so we’ll give him a pass.) Wii-Linux couldn’t run the USB adapter either (appropriate apologies were offered to NetBSD), but it turns out the internal Ethernet adapter was available all along.
As a file server, python-based
Copyparty worked flawlessly
, but the rust-based Minecraft server he picked was not particularly usable. A little optimization would fix that, since you can
serve Minecraft from an ESP32
and the Wii absolutely has more horsepower than that. Doubtless he
could
have loaded a web-server, and proved Google’s AI summary wrong, but the iPad-induced ADHD we all suffer from these days kicks in, so he settled for posting a screenshot of someone else’s blog, hosted on a Wii from NetBSD. So the LLM was wrong from the get-go, but the tour of “what home-brew loaded OSes still work in 2025” was certainly educational.
We could hunt that Wii-based blog down for you, but we’d be reluctant to link to it anyway: while the AI summary is
wrong
, and you can use the Wii as a server, that doesn’t mean it makes a
good
one. We’d don’t feel the need to inadvertently DDOS some poor unsuspecting shmuck’s Nintendo, so we’ll let you try and find it yourself.
Just be warned that all of this Wii hacking may not rest
on the best of foundations.
| 20
| 13
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8186892",
"author": "Andrew",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T05:10:38",
"content": "I expect the AI summary was not only wrong, butconfidentlywrong.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187094",
"author": "KDawg",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T17:33:20",
"content": "Even better it will now scrape the hard work of the creator and present it as its own without even a freaking link",
"parent_id": "8186892",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187666",
"author": "Somenewb",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T21:40:24",
"content": "Answer Gemini gives me now : “Yes, you absolutely can use a Nintendo Wii as a server, but it’s important to understand the context. It’s a fun and interesting technical project, not a solution for high-performance or commercial hosting”Nailed it bud",
"parent_id": "8187094",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187025",
"author": "Tomas",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T13:27:57",
"content": "Did I understand correctly?Internal ethernet adapter?Since when?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187055",
"author": "dremu",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T14:49:34",
"content": "“…you can use the Wii as a server, that doesn’t mean it makes a good one.”Just because you CAN do something doesn’t mean you SHOULD. But very often the point of HAD is the FUN in trying. And this is a hoot.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187060",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T14:58:39",
"content": "Ask it if a vape pen can be made into a server.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187074",
"author": "Sheff",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T16:06:41",
"content": "I turned a vape pen into a laser wand, using an old telephone 📞 hand set.",
"parent_id": "8187060",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188723",
"author": "Delche",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T13:36:43",
"content": "Nice one",
"parent_id": "8187074",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187798",
"author": "5xq",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T04:06:18",
"content": "Someone did it month ago",
"parent_id": "8187060",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187065",
"author": "SETH",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T15:26:31",
"content": "LLM outputs token structures relevant to the tokens activated by the previous responses/prompts. This means it generates the facsimile of what a correct answer LOOKS like complete with statistically averaged correct grammar, sentence structure and vocabulary. What strikes me as odd is that there are cases where a facsimile of a correct response is as good as an actual correct response. Of course this isn’t enough for most uses, say identifying edible mushrooms. The chance of a false positive response could get you poisoned. It’s ontologically confusing to say the least.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187085",
"author": "dragonloverlord",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T17:03:14",
"content": "I’m very confused by this article… So did he actually run a Minecraft server on it or not? Also kind of got mixed around on the structure and wording of the article. I mean the netbsd bit was made pointless in the paragraph that follows and dare I ask what a “blog Wii-based blog” is? Anyways if nothing else it’s at least good to see that the Wii is still being used for strange and wacky stuff.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187111",
"author": "Tyler August",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T18:37:25",
"content": "Removed the redundant use of the word “blog”. Hopefully that part makes more sense for you at least. ;)But yes, he did briefly run a Minecraft server, but gave up because it didn’t work very well. Personally I suspect that has more to do with the software he chose for the server than it does with the Wii.",
"parent_id": "8187085",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187092",
"author": "anothercrowmac",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T17:27:17",
"content": "We’d don’t feel the need to inadvertently DDOS some poor unsuspecting shmuck’s NintendoThe one shown was posted to HN when it came out and survived without issue with some really heavy traffic. Here it is:https://blog.infected.systems/posts/2025-04-21-this-blog-is-hosted-on-a-nintendo-wii/It’s behind a web proxy that handles the cryptography for HTTPS, so all it has to do is serve the static files. It’s really impressive.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187100",
"author": "Tyler August",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T18:04:15",
"content": "I missed it on HN; in that case we’ll give it a shot. It is impressive indeed.",
"parent_id": "8187092",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187123",
"author": "John",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T19:14:43",
"content": "Are people not genuinely embarrassed to say they’re getting “information” from LLMs?Also, what does this mean?“but NetBSD didn’t work with his USB network adapter, which is sadly as predictable as the hardware running NetBSD”NetBSD supports a huge array of USB ethernet adapters, and a decent number of USB wifi adapters.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187218",
"author": "M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T23:14:46",
"content": "“Of course should not that hard”",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187331",
"author": "Dominic Davis-Foster",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T07:57:48",
"content": "Putting jokes into Google usually elicits confidently wrong AI summaries. “What is the standard reply of a British Rail information officer?” I ask, from the Russ Abbot sketch.“There is no single “standard reply” for a British Rail information officer, as their responses depend on the query., ” it responds, and then goes on about how British Rail doesn’t exist anymore anyway and what information officers are now called instead.I was looking for a video clip thank you very much Google.It would be nice if it could give the correct joke response, like Alexa does when asked about opening the pod bay doors.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187820",
"author": "DaVince",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T06:47:34",
"content": "The AI overview gets things wrong so often I hard skip over it every time, but it’s entertaining to see it give someone enough spite/motivation to do a cool project.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187841",
"author": "tyler",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T08:22:34",
"content": "HaD using a slur like that, what a time we live in",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188280",
"author": "Stillbuyvhs",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T15:32:17",
"content": "Watch carefully before the video scrolls. The AIs answer was not “No, never,” but “No, you cannot reliably or practically run a Minecraft or general-purpose file server, although it can run Linux and some basic web servers.”To prove the AI wrong, he’d need to run more than a blog.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,409.928927
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/02/implementing-a-kalman-filter-in-postgresql-to-smooth-gps-data/
|
Implementing A Kalman Filter In PostgreSQL To Smooth GPS Data
|
Maya Posch
|
[
"Software Development"
] |
[
"database",
"PL/pgSQL",
"postgres",
"sql"
] |
Usually databases are treated primarily as fairly dumb data storage systems, but they can be capable of much more. Case in point the PostgreSQL database and its – Ada-based – PL/pgSQL programming language, which allows you to perform significantly more complex operations than would be realistically possible with raw SQL. Case in point the
implementation of a Kalman Filter
by the folk over at Traconiq, which thus removes the necessity for an external filtering pipeline.
Using a Kalman Filter is highly desirable when you’re doing something like vehicle tracking using both dead-reckoning and GPS coordinates, as it filters out noise that can be the result of e.g. GPS reception issues. As noted in the article, transferring state from one row to the next requires a bit of lateral thinking, but is doable with some creative SQL usage. As
PL/pgSQL
is very similar to Oracle’s PL/SQL, this same code should work there too without too much porting required.
The code for the different implementations and associated benchmarks can be
found on GitHub
, though the benchmark results make it abundantly clear that the most efficient approach is to run an offline aggregate processing routine. This coincides with the other batch processing tasks that are typically performed by a database server to e.g. optimize storage, so this isn’t entirely unsurprising.
| 7
| 1
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8186943",
"author": "aki009",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T08:15:40",
"content": "It would seem to me that one wants to offload SQL servers as much as possible. Not only for performance, but because it’s usually the most expensive compute-time short of GPU farms. Hence one’s wallet would suggest to do this kind of data massaging somewhere else.Anyone have thoughts on this?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8186959",
"author": "mathman",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T09:14:15",
"content": "Exactly what I thought,…… Though I am absolutely no database expert.",
"parent_id": "8186943",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8186970",
"author": "pigster",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T09:56:02",
"content": "Dependsfirst – “it’s usually the most expensive compute-time short of GPU farms” is not universal truth – depends on your system architecturesecond – again depending on multiple factors, it may be better to not pull the whole dataset from the server over network first, than process and than update back, but instead do it in the database directlyfor large datasets, updates using simple “update” command row by row (when the values are calculated externally) is no go (too slow) so anyway you need to do something likeCOPY FROM STDINinto temp table and than updating from that – may as well be easier to do the update in place with custom function in the database itself",
"parent_id": "8186943",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187012",
"author": "josiah",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T12:37:22",
"content": "my company runs on a cloud provider who charge in terms of read/write. As long as we can fit the compute into their 6h timeout, it’s relatively free!",
"parent_id": "8186943",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187041",
"author": "Daemon",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T14:09:56",
"content": "Since the filter depends not only on the input, but also related (previous) values, there might be something to say for implementing it on the server. It avoids having to fetch the previous data to a compute node, calculating the filter and writing the new data to the server.But still I agree. Unless there is a Lot of data and latency is an issue, I don’t see the added value.Still: It’s a pretty funny hack. :) Kudos for at least that.",
"parent_id": "8186943",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187066",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T15:27:15",
"content": "So preoccupied with whether they could that they never stopped to ask whether they should :)i take this sort of thing as a kind of demo of the capabilities of postgresql. Honestly, i don’t like it, for the reasons you stated and also because i view it as a kind of intrinsically harmful “embrace and extend.” i want an SQL database to be an SQL database, not to have some novel language tacked onto it which does noting but promote vendor lock-in and (usually) bad architectural choices. But a lot of projects are neat just for showing what’s possible, in case it might trigger a thought in the reader about where this capacity might be genuinely useful.",
"parent_id": "8186943",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190833",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T19:30:05",
"content": "If this was easy, liberal arts majors would make the big bucks right of out school.Beware simple answers to complicated questions.There are reasons to do the work on the SQL server, mostly about not moving massive data back and forth.There are reasons not to, everything hits SQL, you don’t want to dim those lights.Even situations where you customize network topography for big jobs.Dedicated network links between SQL, OLAP and web servers.Every real SQL server has it’s own server side language.They’re as much fun to debug as JS in a browser.If the option is available, best to do the work in another language, only invoke the library method in TSQL/PLSQL/pgSQL.Not only because *SQL sucks as a programming language but because DBAs are GD control freaks.I’ve seen one try to tell me that I couldn’t modify a database structure on a local dev database without her ‘blessing’ first.She was of the ‘backup monkey’ variety of Oracle DBAs (read overpaid and dumb), couldn’t code a stored procedure to save her life.But she had excellent self esteem.",
"parent_id": "8186943",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
}
] | 1,760,371,409.98268
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/02/kei-truck-becomes-tiny-rv/
|
Kei Truck Becomes Tiny RV
|
Navarre Bartz
|
[
"Transportation Hacks"
] |
[
"camping",
"glamping",
"kei truck",
"recreational vehicle",
"rv"
] |
Tent camping lets you explore places on foot you could never reach another way, but sometimes you want to camp with a bit more luxury. [Levi Kelly] decided to see
how small you could make an RV
. [via
Autopian
]
While we won’t argue one way or another on his claim to world’s smallest, as that likely depends on your definition of an RV, starting with a kei truck certainly puts you in a more compact format than something built on a bus chassis. With four wheel drive and a small footprint, this could be better for overlanding than the
Rivian bed camper
we featured recently.
The 21 sq. ft. (1.95 m
2
) camper portion itself is framed in 2 x 2s (38 x 38 mm) to save weight and uses foam board insulation. A working faucet uses a pump to draw drinking water from a 5 gallon (19L) refillable jug and empties into a 7 gallon (26L) grey water tank. A solar panel on the roof charges the battery that drives the pump, ventilation fan, and can also be used to run other devices like a hot plate for cooking.
A teeny tiny wood stove can be used for heat, although [Kelly] is using a different fuel source to reduce unpredictability from a wood fire in such a small space. A faucet-mounted sprayer can be routed to the outside of the camper to create a makeshift shower and is run from the sink water system. There’s even a small cabinet above the foot area of the bed to house a portable toilet and a bubble window to observe your surroundings while you do your business.
We’ve seen some even smaller campers, like this
vintage-inspired bike camper
, or this
more streamlined version
. If you want the
most efficient RV ever
then check out this solar-powered one.
| 16
| 8
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8186855",
"author": "dremu",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T01:49:49",
"content": "Were the camper proper a fiberglass affair with rear overhang, it would be reminiscent of Susan Calman’s Helen Mirren.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8186857",
"author": "the gambler",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T01:58:23",
"content": "not sure how this is a hack when there are literally countless of these online and they even sell them this way. Seriously what is the hack here?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8186878",
"author": "Jason",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T04:05:23",
"content": "Clearly we have different definitions of what a hack is and hang out in different corners of the internet. I for one had never seen something like this before and I very much enjoyed the post. So it sounds like our differing opinions net out to zero then.",
"parent_id": "8186857",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8186986",
"author": "Anonymous",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T10:45:01",
"content": "Hack, is very clearly not just something you haven’t seen before.",
"parent_id": "8186878",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187097",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T17:52:25",
"content": "Not watched as I don’t much care, but surely doing it yourself is at the very least hack adjacent if not a hack by definition – buying something isn’t a hack, creating/modifiying stuff into your own version of something I’d argue certainly should be counted. Its not like you have create the universe from scratch first for every other “hack”.",
"parent_id": "8186857",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8186875",
"author": "Nikolai",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T03:44:53",
"content": "If VW would keep selling Eurovans her in US, al there silly tiny project will not exists.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8186978",
"author": "Kenny",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T10:23:38",
"content": "Not everyone can afford a new or even used rv here. Ours is an antique K30. 3+3 4×4 with an antique truck slide in camper that GOD actually provided as we were jobless and homeless the last five years.",
"parent_id": "8186875",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8190836",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T19:41:01",
"content": "This thing breaks down and takes all your money?No?Not equivalent to a new German car then.",
"parent_id": "8186875",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8186947",
"author": "Richard Test Collins",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T08:25:52",
"content": "Awesome build. In the UK we have the Bedford Bambi. Basically this… :)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8186980",
"author": "Bikeforever",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T10:30:48",
"content": "Nahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiTsSm3uTHEGoogle tuk tuk camper :-)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8186987",
"author": "Brian",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T10:45:35",
"content": "I like the overall concept of a minimalist tiny RV, and I think he did a pretty good job. I would absolutely build and use something like this if I had the spare time and funds to do so.My biggest dislike of his approach is the toilet setup. Looks fine when empty. Suspending a unit with waste in it above my sleeping area? No thank you.If I were to make this I’d go just a bit taller, maybe another 6″ should be doable without getting unstable, raise the bed platform, and get a smaller toilet that can go under the bed, or even get stored outside.I also echo some of the comments on the video, he could have extended the camper portion over the truck cab and added some storage that way.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8186988",
"author": "Anonymous",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T10:46:12",
"content": "The Guiness label makes me concerned that this is a wealthy man’s slop channel.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187006",
"author": "sweethack",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T12:11:03",
"content": "That’s the result of the Youtube rat race. People make things to look good, without any consideration for any low level stuff like safety, usability, comfort, and reproducibility. You can’t have a “camper” on a truck without a secure attachment. Just imagine this truck being hit by the side (or if it had to roll a bit on its side), the whole “house” will simply roll over.A fuel stove without any gas exhaust is a dead trap. Look, even inside the advertisement, the flames were already higher than expected and started to heat the roof.There’s no reason for the house to be so low (except because it cost more to use longer stick), and only cause burden inside (he had to add a “bubble” window after realizing his mistakes). He could never sleep in this camper, since any movement of his legs would hit the sharp corner closet above. If instead he add 1 feet higher, the toilet would have fit under the bed.There is no way the cell built this way could be water and weather proof. So, you can’t park this vehicle outside and even if you keep it inside, you can’t use it (same issue, you don’t want to have a fire and fumes inside a building).I’m pretty sure the vehicle isn’t even allowed on the roads (that’s why it’s only show in his garden).So, yes, anyone with few hand tools can make a cube/box and anyone can stuff things into it. But there’s a difference between a toy camper like this and a real vehicle.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187047",
"author": "Greg A",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T14:23:36",
"content": "i think the punchline of your comment is that no one ever lived in this camper. Which i think is the biggest bummer about youtube content in general. And it’s just like the million raspberry pi ‘decks’ (which, thankfully, Hackaday has stopped posting one a week of). Even IRL, i know people doing interesting work but only ‘for the clicks’, and it shows. It’s a huge social phenomenon, seeking attention over utility or even actual expressiveness.i really think the sine qua non of a hack is that it’sused.",
"parent_id": "8187006",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187101",
"author": "Foldi-One",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T18:09:03",
"content": "I really think the sine qua non of a hack is that it’s used.Perhaps, but I’d say that excludes far too many things that should be counted – often need a prototype to test ideas for instance, and sometimes just like that tool you bought after struggling through a job that could have used one you’ll stick it on a shelf and be waiting for that problem to come up again for ages!So I’d exchange ‘used’ with ‘useful’ – which might just be as a learning exercise. Not bothering to watch this video, but this thing could certainly count there – a somewhat comfortable space you can take where you need it has value to many folks. Even if its just sitting at the bottom of your garden so the Kids can play or you can work in peace",
"parent_id": "8187047",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190838",
"author": "HaHa",
"timestamp": "2025-10-10T19:49:07",
"content": "A $50 Walmart tent is more comfortable then this.I understand great big land ship RVs, not my cup of tea, but understandable.This is just stupid.Put camping gear in 4×4 truck bed.Setup compound off logging road in national forest.Hauling a small human living box to camp makes no sense from any angle.But as noted, this is all done for the clicks.",
"parent_id": "8187101",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
] | 1,760,371,410.336212
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/02/building-a-desk-display-for-time-and-weather-data/
|
Building A Desk Display For Time And Weather Data
|
Lewin Day
|
[
"clock hacks"
] |
[
"clock",
"ESP32",
"ESP8266",
"weather"
] |
Just about every laptop, desktop, and smartphone in your life can tell you the date, time, and current weather predictions. However, sometimes it’s nice to have simple data displayed on a bespoke device.
That’s what inspired [Mario] to create ESPTimeCast.
As you might have guessed by the name, the project is designed around the ESP32 and ESP8266 microcontrollers; either one is up to the task of running the show here. Both come with Wi-Fi connectivity out of the box, which makes it easy for them to hook up to the Internet to query NTP servers for the time and weather data from OpenWeatherMap. The data is then displayed on an LED matrix display, made up of four 8×8 LED modules and driven with the aid of the MAX7219 IC. Configuration is handled over a simple web interface hosted on the device itself. All the parts are wrapped up in a 3D-printed housing that would be very fitting in any home that appreciates the magic of late 60s/early 70s decor.
Hackers love
building clocks
,
weather stations
, and other
useful information displays
. We’ve seen a great many examples over the years. If you’re cooking up your own neat project in this area, don’t hesitate to
let us know!
| 19
| 8
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8186813",
"author": "Alex",
"timestamp": "2025-10-02T23:28:56",
"content": "Awesome project overall, simple hardware and very nicely produced firmware. I didn’t know those matrix displays were so cheap! Looks like they are in the AU$6-7 range, which is amazing considering what they would have been 10 years ago.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8186904",
"author": "Dewey",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T05:49:28",
"content": "Lots of data, but overkill.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187045",
"author": "Eric",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T14:20:43",
"content": "Nice to see more options, but tronbyt (https://hackaday.com/2025/03/29/open-source-framework-aims-to-keep-tidbyt-afloat) has been working great for me and now supports new display hardware not made by tidbyt",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187737",
"author": "Tim Eckel",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T00:21:10",
"content": "They’re not making them anymore.",
"parent_id": "8187045",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187063",
"author": "Craig",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T15:24:23",
"content": "Where does one find version 2 of the case?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187274",
"author": "Mario",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T02:44:11",
"content": "Both versions are included in the download:https://www.printables.com/model/1344276-esptimecast-wifi-clock-weather-display",
"parent_id": "8187063",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187789",
"author": "Mario",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T03:45:19",
"content": "V1 and V2 of the case are included in the 3D case download:https://www.printables.com/model/1344276-esptimecast-wifi-clock-weather-display",
"parent_id": "8187063",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187792",
"author": "Mario",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T03:47:52",
"content": "V1 and V2 are included in the download on printables and cults 3d",
"parent_id": "8187063",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187141",
"author": "rsweet",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T19:48:14",
"content": "The Aura smart weather display is neat too. It uses a Cheap Yellow Display (CYD) which is an ESP32 board and it goes in a 3d printed case.https://makerworld.com/en/models/1382304-aura-smart-weather-forecast-displayhttps://github.com/Surrey-Homeware/Aura",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187334",
"author": "Richard",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T08:18:52",
"content": "If I want to make that clock, what would I use as the protective screen in front of the dot-matrix leds? It looks like smoked plastic or glass.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187510",
"author": "jamesm77",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T17:41:58",
"content": "Acrylic sheets are available pretty cheaply in various colors, translucencies, and thicknesses. Just cut to shape using your preferred method.",
"parent_id": "8187334",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187791",
"author": "Mario",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T03:46:56",
"content": "The one in the picture is a 1 layer thin 3d printed diffuser, but yeah, you can use acrylic if you dont have access to a 3d printer ;)",
"parent_id": "8187334",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187932",
"author": "Richard",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T13:38:42",
"content": "Thanks, I didn’t know 3D printing a diffuser was possible. Could I use something like this?https://uk.store.bambulab.com/products/pla-translucent",
"parent_id": "8187791",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188073",
"author": "Mario",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T23:45:59",
"content": "The one in the picture was made with Elegoo standard black PLA",
"parent_id": "8187932",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188185",
"author": "Elmesito",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T10:17:06",
"content": "I made mine using wood veneer. It is a very good diffuser, and looks amazing. The leds are more than bright enough to shire through the veneer.",
"parent_id": "8187334",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189337",
"author": "Robert Bushell",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T12:39:05",
"content": "Install ESP8266 Board Package:Open File > Preferences in Arduino IDE.Addhttp://arduino.esp8266.com/stable/package_esp8266com_index.jsonto “Additional Boards Manager URLs.”Go to Tools > Board > Boards Manager…. Search for esp8266 by ESP8266 Community and click “Install”.File downloads but no ‘esp8266 by ESP8266 Community’Any help appreciated",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189541",
"author": "Mario",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T17:51:42",
"content": "If you installed esp8266 by ESP8266 Community and it shows the version number and as installed “3.1.2 installed” then you should be able to see the esp8266 boards under:Tools > Board > esp8266 just under Boards Manager",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190373",
"author": "Robert Bushell",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T19:48:32",
"content": "Cheers, sorted",
"parent_id": "8189541",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8190455",
"author": "Mario",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T23:57:15",
"content": "Nice!",
"parent_id": "8190373",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
] | 1,760,371,410.25631
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/05/hackaday-links-october-5-2025/
|
Hackaday Links: October 5, 2025
|
Dan Maloney
|
[
"Hackaday Columns",
"Hackaday links",
"Slider"
] |
[
"240Z",
"ai",
"alexa",
"ble",
"botnet",
"Datsun",
"exploit",
"Flock",
"gunshot",
"hackaday links",
"human distress",
"humanoid",
"license plate reader",
"restoration",
"robotaxi",
"scream",
"self-driving",
"unitree",
"vulnerability",
"Waymo",
"wifi"
] |
What the Flock? It’s probably just some quirk of The Almighty Algorithm, but ever since we featured
a story on Flock’s crime-fighting drones
last week, we’ve been flooded with other stories about the company, some of which aren’t very flattering. The first thing that we were pushed was
this handy interactive map
of the company’s network of automatic license plate readers. We had no idea how extensive the network was, and while our location is relatively free from these devices, at least ones operated on behalf of state, county, or local law enforcement, we did learn to our dismay that our local Lowe’s saw fit to install three of these cameras on the entrances to their parking lot. Not wishing to have our coming and goings documented, we’ll be taking our home improvement dollars elsewhere for now.
But it’s a new feature being rolled out by Flock that really got our attention:
the addition of “human distress” detection
to their
Raven acoustic gunshot detection system
. From what we understand, gunshot detection systems use the sudden acoustic impulse generated by the supersonic passage of a bullet, the shock wave from the rapidly expanding powder charge of a fired round, or both to detect a gunshot, and then use the time-of-arrival difference between multiple sensors to estimate the shot’s point of origin. Those impulses carry a fair amount of information, but little of it is personally identifiable, at least directly. On the other hand, human voices carry a lot of personal information, and detecting the sounds of distress, such as screaming, would require very different monitoring techniques. We’d imagine it would be akin to what digital assistants use to monitor for wake words, which would mean turning the world — or at least pockets of it — into a gigantic Alex. We don’t much like the idea of having our every public utterance recorded and analyzed, even with the inevitable assurances from the company that the “non-distress” parts of the audio stream will never be listened to. Yeah, right.
Botnets are bad enough when it’s just routers or smart TVs that are exploited to mine crypto or spam comments on social media. But what if a botnet were made of, you know, actual robots? That might be something to watch out for with
the announcement of a vulnerability in certain Unitree robots
, including several of their humanoid robots. The vulnerability, still unpatched at the time of the
Spectrum
story, lies in the Bluetooth system used to set up the robots’ WiFi configuration. It sounds like an attacker can easily craft a BLE packet to become an authenticated user, after which the WiFi SSID and password fields can be used to inject arbitrary code. The fun doesn’t end there, though, since a compromised robot could then go on to infect any other nearby Unitree bots via BLE. And since Unitree seems to be staking out a market position as the leader in
affordable humanoid robots
, who’s to say what could happen? If you want a zombie robot apocalypse, this seems like a great way to get it.
Also from the “Bad Optics for Robots” files comes
this story about a Waymo car that went just a little off course
. Or rather, on course — a golf course, to be precise. Viral video shows a Waymo self-driving Jaguar creeping slowly across a golf course fairway as bemused golfers look on. But you can relax, because the robotaxi company says that this isn’t a case of their AI driving system going awry, but rather a human-driven robotaxi preparing for an event at the golf course. The company seems to think this absolves them, and perhaps it does officially and legally. But a very distinctive car that’s well-known for getting into self-driving mischief, appearing in a place one doesn’t typically associate with vehicles larger than golf carts, seems like a bad look for the company.
And finally,
back in December of 2023
, we dropped a link to My Mechanics’ restoration of a 1973 Datsun 240Z. He’s been making slow but steady progress on the car since then, with
the most recent video
covering his painstaking restoration of the rear axle and suspension. Where most car rebuild projects use as many replacement parts as possible, My Mechanics prefers to restore the original parts wherever possible. So, where a normal person might look at the chipped cooling fins on the original Z-car’s brake drums and order new ones, My Mechanics instead pulls out the TIG welder and lays up some beads to patch the broken fins. He used a similar technique to restore the severely chowdered compression fittings on the brake lines, something we’ve never seen down before. Over the top? You bet it is, but it still makes for great watching. Enjoy!
| 15
| 5
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8188068",
"author": "PWalsh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T23:25:43",
"content": "I remember reading an article about the Raven system – it heard a gunshot and successfully located the shot to a car stopped at a railway crossing, the car was caught on camera, and the license plate led to the arrest of the owner.Win win.Except that the Raven systems were not sync’d to GPS time, some of them were “off by a little”, and as a result the car was a false positive.The same thing happened with a woman whose image was caught on an ATM camera using a stolen credit card. After everything settled out it was found that the timestamp in the ATM was off, and the actual culprit had used the ATM several seconds before the woman who was arrested.I suppose the moral is that we shouldn’t allow arrests or trials without corroborating information, or maybe just don’t use the high tech as direct evidence.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188070",
"author": "PEBKAC",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T23:33:04",
"content": "Flock is downright evil. Authoritarian mass surveillance.I’d love to see HaD articles on defeating or disabling these systems, honestly.They are ultimately just glorified android phones zip tied to a post alongside a solar panel. Tech stack involving OpenCV and YOLO… The edge devices are straightforward. The real evil happens in the cloud with the data collection, analysis… And resale to highest bidder.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188134",
"author": "mcenderdragon",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T06:40:11",
"content": "There was an article about exactly this not long ago. Mainly about avoidign License Plate detection but its a start.",
"parent_id": "8188070",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188146",
"author": "Get Flocked",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T07:54:05",
"content": "Maia leaked some of the apps running on that ALPR systemhttps://maia.crimew.gay/files/posts/fckice/flock-safety.zip",
"parent_id": "8188070",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188217",
"author": "Chr Elz",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T11:59:53",
"content": "OK I’ll download a mystery .zip, what could go wrong!",
"parent_id": "8188146",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189253",
"author": "Get Flocked",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T09:44:04",
"content": "Here’s the full post if you want to check it out:https://maia.crimew.gay/posts/fckice/",
"parent_id": "8188217",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188212",
"author": "Chr Elz",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T11:53:16",
"content": "Agree. Flock is truly AWFUL. And the CEO is incredibly slimy, if you want the motivation to do something about them, go watch a few interviews of Garrett Langley.Hackaday understandably isn’t going to publish guides on how to destroy the cams, but, thanks to the work of the DeFlock folks and others, you can go find them, or towns using them, and advocate for having them removed.",
"parent_id": "8188070",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188255",
"author": "Ostracus",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T14:15:34",
"content": "That “authoritarian mass surveillance” captures great video of ICE abuse of our freedoms. Might come in handy latter if sanity ever returns.",
"parent_id": "8188070",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189078",
"author": "Pacman Jones",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T02:48:26",
"content": "Try to read a little more – and not so much of the liberal press.ICE only abuses the freedom of illegal immigrants to the USA.Preserving the freedom and safety of legitimate citizens of the USA.Can we please STOP HAD from going down the cesspool of Reddit by removing all tin-foil political hack posts? It really is getting bad and will only result in more hate being spread.",
"parent_id": "8188255",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189616",
"author": "lwheelerc5e3f6416e",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T19:17:02",
"content": "Wow! triggered much? There are many examples of ICE violating the constitutional rights of US citizens. You must be one of those snow flakes that accused others of being a snow flake. F^(k your feelings. you should use your pacman to gobble on deez….",
"parent_id": "8189078",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189739",
"author": "Jared S",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T22:57:11",
"content": "We’re… just ignoring the widely-reported South Shore raid last week in Chicago, which saw more than 20 people, most of whom were lawful natural-born citizens of the United States, detained for multiple hours in the middle of the night until ICE agents could verify their legal status?That raid in particular was sparked by a real estate dispute over the building and the administration’s hostile approach toward the city’s mayor.Surely we’re not going to believe everything one of the 3-letter agencies publishes on its own letterhead about its own conduct and reasoning, right? Surely we’re not going to shill for the government just because they say they’re doing “the right thing?”",
"parent_id": "8189078",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188131",
"author": "Sword",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T06:28:34",
"content": "The biggest reason people take issue with flock:LE needs Probable Cause for a Warrant which includes Surveillance. Flock conducts surveillance as a private company than sells that information to LE and everyone else, while doing so from public property.It is absolutely illegal tracking and spying with no way to avoid it.Its Orwellian, and I am waiting for someone to challenge its legality in court (since Flock takes money from LE they are, infact, “Acting as an Agent of Law Enforcement”….aka the same evidence/warrant rules apply.)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188288",
"author": "Piotrsko",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T15:52:56",
"content": "Don’t hold your breath waiting. Just saying",
"parent_id": "8188131",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188149",
"author": "Keeping Distance",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T08:03:48",
"content": "I remember a browser called Flock which was supposed to be the next chrome killer back in the early 2010’s it was bloated and I think it needed Adobe Air to run which was a nightmare on Linux at the time so I genearlly stay away from things called “Flock” these days",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189618",
"author": "lwheelerc5e3f6416e",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T19:20:44",
"content": "The latest court snafu with flock determined that they are not violating the fourth amendment. I believe the case argument was flawed in that it does track you because the camera itself is located with a GPS coordinate. Is not this the same as putting a gps tracker on a car? I think the judge in the case ruled incorrectly because they misunderstand the technology is likely being lobbied by the industry to move on.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,410.185848
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/05/divining-air-quality-with-a-cheap-computer-vision-device/
|
Divining Air Quality With A Cheap Computer Vision Device
|
Lewin Day
|
[
"Artificial Intelligence"
] |
[
"air quality",
"ESP32",
"video"
] |
There are all kinds of air quality sensors on the market that rely on all kinds of electro-physical effects to detect gases or contaminants and report them back as a value. [lucascreator] has instead been investigating a method of determining air quality that is closer to divination than measurement—
using computer vision and a trained AI model.
The system relies on an Unihiker K10—a microcontroller module based around the ESP32-S3 at heart. The chip is running a lightweight convolutional neural network (CNN) trained on 12,000 images of the sky. These images were sourced from a public dataset; they were taken in India and Nepal, and tagged with the relevant Air Quality Index at the time of capture. [lucascreator] used this data to train their model to look at an image taken with a camera attached to the ESP32 and estimate the air quality index based on what it has seen in that existing dataset.
It might sound like a spurious concept, but it does have some value. [lucascreator] cites studies where
video data was used for low-cost air quality estimation
—not as a replacement for proper measurement, but as an additional data point that could be sourced from existing surveillance infrastructure. Performance of such models has, in some cases,
been remarkably accurate.
[lucascreator] is pragmatic about the limitations of their implementation of this concept, noting that their very compact model didn’t always perform the best in terms of determining actual air quality. The concept may have some value, but implementing it on an ESP32 isn’t so easy if you’re looking for supreme accuracy. We’ve featured some other great air quality projects before, though, if you’re looking for
other ways to capture this information.
Video after the break.
| 10
| 8
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8188066",
"author": "SETH",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T23:22:17",
"content": "The irony, I was just telling someone a visual assessment of atmospheric opacity and coloration is not how AQI is measured. There can be clearish looking skies and poor air quality. I have breathing issues at high PM2.5/10 levels (20+) so I check AQI information almost hourly depending on the season. This will only work during the day time correct?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188108",
"author": "Anonymous",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T04:49:45",
"content": "I can do the same thing with my eyes and brain. Sky looks weird? Probably bad air!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188144",
"author": "shinsukke",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T07:19:10",
"content": "Although I doubt its accuracy, I like the fact that its running a CNN. I have seen it solve a lot of problems where people can’t be bothered to study the data properly but they know what they want. Its a computation intensive way of letting the machine itself figure out how to get from the input to the desired output",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188225",
"author": "MarkusT",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T12:25:04",
"content": "All true. If you do not study your data at all, however, and just hope your data may contain relevant information, you end up with divination instead of hard evidence. One old truth many AI apologists seem to forget is “garbage in – garbage out”. AI has not changed this fundamentally.",
"parent_id": "8188144",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188191",
"author": "Lightislight",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T10:34:27",
"content": "On the positive side I like the device and what it’s capable of doing as it relates to softwareThat said… You shouldn’t need a CNN for this, old school computer vision would likely be comparable if not better, and there’s no way this does what it sets out to do in any meaningful way. I’m glad people are experimenting but some of the projects getting posted here lately border on delusion reinforcement, gambling, and wishful thinking.Sometimes as hackers we make something and it’s a flop. Sometimes that happens even if we spend a lot of time on it. It’s okay and should be celebrated. But I think it’s important to report these things with an appropriate level of skepticism so as to avoid misinformation.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188294",
"author": "Please Maybe",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T15:58:38",
"content": "Tangential to the article, but does anyone out there know of a Linux image built for the Unihiker devices that doesn’t include all of the dubious Chinese-language software DFRobot installs by default? They’re neat little devices with a lot of potential, but I’d prefer driver support for the touchscreen and sensors without all the extras.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188341",
"author": "Anonymous",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T18:18:16",
"content": "Why did my post get deleted, stating that you can do the same thing with your eyes and brain? Am I not allowed to notice that?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188722",
"author": "munit",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T13:36:21",
"content": "its still there",
"parent_id": "8188341",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188401",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T20:55:16",
"content": "Doesn’t seem legit, despite the attempt to transfer a veneer of legitimacy over to it by citing a study using video with a completely different technique.“It can be surprisingly accurate.” But is it? No real testing, just the implication of testing by association.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188442",
"author": "Daniel Scott Matthews",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T22:57:32",
"content": "Needs a big UV laser and a spectrometer to be sure about what made the haze, because a light fog of pure water vapour is not harmful.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,410.44165
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/05/optimizing-a-quicktake-image-decoder-for-the-apple-iis-6502/
|
Optimizing A QuickTake Image Decoder For The Apple II’s 6502
|
Maya Posch
|
[
"Mac Hacks"
] |
[
"6502",
"6502 microprocessor",
"apple II",
"Apple QuickTake"
] |
The idea of using the Apple II home computer for digital photography purposes may seem somewhat daft considering that this is not a purpose that they were ever designed for, yet this is the goal that [Colin Leroy-Mira] had, requiring
some image decoder optimizations
. That said, it’s less crazy than one might assume at first glance, considering that the Apple II was manufactured until 1993, while the
Apple QuickTake
digital cameras that [Colin] wanted to use for his nefarious purposes saw their first release in 1994.
These QuickTake cameras feature an astounding image resolution of up to 640×480, using 24-bit color. Using the official QuickTake software for Apple Macintosh System 7 through 9 the photographs in proprietary QTK format could be fetched for display and processing. Doing the same on an Apple II would obviously require a bit more work, not to mention adapting of the image to the limitations of the 8-bit Apple II compared to the Motorola 68K and PowerPC-based Macs that the QuickTake was designed to be used with.
Targeting the typical ~1 MHz 6502 CPU in an Apple II, the
dcraw
QTK decoder formed the basis for an initial decoder. Many memory and buffer optimizations later, an early conversion to monochrome and various other tweaks later – including a conversion to 6502 ASM for speed reasons –
the decoder
as it stands today manages to decode and render a QTK image in about a minute, compared to well over an hour previously.
Considering how anemic the Apple II is compared to even a budget Macintosh Classic II system, it’s amazing that displaying bitmap images works at all, though [Colin] reckons that more optimizations are possible.
| 7
| 5
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8187992",
"author": "baltar",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T17:12:38",
"content": "Is this part of QT library? It should run on modern PCs too.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188150",
"author": "Rastersoft",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T08:03:54",
"content": "Don’t think so. That QT I think stands for “QuickTime”, the video framework used by Apple at those times.",
"parent_id": "8187992",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188011",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T18:36:54",
"content": "This would have made sense for SSTV, at the very least.The ZX Spectrum, for example, was used as an SSTV decoder/encoder in the 80s.Just look for the G1FTU SSTV software.Example video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPIoIiMzJ7E",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188065",
"author": "SARAH ROSE TAYLOR",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T23:19:14",
"content": "Somewhere in a box is my Computereyes gadget for my Apple ][ as shown here:http://www.digital-vision-inc.com/productCEAppleII.htm",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188239",
"author": "Martin Hill",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T12:58:48",
"content": "We had the slightly later computereyes for IIGS in the art room at school when I was in 5th grade about 1988. It could sorta do color but even the IIG’s color capability was pretty limited. But it was a way you could take a “picture”, draw on it in Pantworks Plus and print on the ImageWriter. Pretty novel at the time.",
"parent_id": "8188065",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188206",
"author": "Eric",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T11:25:17",
"content": "Cool! I wonder how much an Apple IIgs could do with QuickTake images.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188273",
"author": "cyberteque",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T14:58:46",
"content": "there was an Apple II “camera” product based on a Byte article using a ceramic package DRAM that had been “uncapped”, stuffed in a box with a lens focused on the chip dieit used a custom interface card, was slow to read, had low resolution, used Floyd-Stienberg dithering to displayit was expensive, clunky, but way cool!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,410.390666
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/05/wearable-neon-necklaces-run-on-battery-power/
|
Wearable Neon Necklaces Run On Battery Power
|
Lewin Day
|
[
"Misc Hacks"
] |
[
"glass",
"neon",
"neon tube"
] |
We typically think of neon signs as big commercial advertisements, hanging inside windows and lofted on tall signposts outside highway-adjacent businesses. [James Akers] has gone the other route with a fashionable build,
creating little wearable neon necklaces that glow beautifully in just the same way.
Aiming for small scale, [James] began with 6 mm blue phosphor glass tube, which was formed to reference
Pink Pony Club,
one of Chappell Roan’s more popular songs. The glass was then filled with pure neon up to a relatively low pressure of just 8 torr. This was an intentional choice to create a more conductive lamp that would be easier to run off a battery supply. The use of pure neon also made the tubes easy to repair in the event they had a leak and needed a refill. A Midget Script gas tube power supply is used to drive the tiny tubes from DC power. In testing, the tubes draw just 0.78 amps at 11.8 volts. It’s not a
light
current draw, but for neon, it’s pretty good—and you could easily carry a battery pack to run it for an hour or three without issue.
If you’re not a glass blower, fear not—you can always make stuff that has a similar visual effect
with some LEDs and creativity
. Meanwhile, if you’ve got your own neon creations on the go—perhaps for Halloween?—don’t hesitate to
light up the tipsline!
| 22
| 7
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8187962",
"author": "That's on a need to know basis",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T15:07:20",
"content": "That looks sick. I was expecting LED filament but actual neon… dangMakes me wonder tho… how are those high voltages managed? tbh i’m not sure i’d want a few kV around my neck :)Still an awesome project tho",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188218",
"author": "James Akers",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T12:01:38",
"content": "the High voltages were managed with silicone “boots”. They are the best insulators. The wires coming off the midget are the pvc wires and not the nice silicone ones. Despite all this, none of the four of us received a shock…. even as it poured rain in the concert.Not necessarily saying you should go do this on your own, as I have a bit of experience with neon, but it is (surprisingly) possible :)",
"parent_id": "8187962",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187984",
"author": "Dave Boyer",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T16:21:03",
"content": "You could achieve the same result with a $3 electric cigarette lighter from China.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188017",
"author": "ScubaBearLA",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T19:09:59",
"content": "Based on experiences of my own I worry that this is not a great idea because of the high frequency/high voltage a mini neon transformer would supply.I designed the electronics & lighting for the light suits for Tron Legacy; back then (15 yrs ago) LED filament didn’t exist. We found a company that patented a technique for screen printing electroluminescent lighting onto a supple cloth-like plastic that would bend, twist and drape much like cloth so it was perfect. Problem was it needed 300VAC at 1200Hz, so getting shocked by it felt like being jabbed with a needle and the microphones recording the on-set dialog could pick up the 1200Hz singing of the EL material.But the biggest problem was the actors getting shocked. Those Tron suits were practically wetsuits, and even though the EL was on the topmost surface, their sweat would reach the tiny Molex connectors I had on each EL panel. The actors would get zapped constantly despite our best efforts to seal those connectors, yet maintain them as connectors so we could change the panels as they failed (usually due to stretching; that would kill this material instantly).After the first day of shooting with the suits, we got nothing usable all day since the actors could not perform while being jabbed by needles. It was actually the producers came up with what actually ended up being the perfect solution: don’t allow the actors in their Tron wetsuits to get sweaty. The next day they brought in four massive 20-ton air conditioners, and chilled all the stages down to just above the point where the actors’ breath could be seen. It worked great! Very few shocks after that and the actors were comfortable. The rest of us off-camera folks were all indoors working in parkas though…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188018",
"author": "rexxar",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T19:21:25",
"content": "As an engineer, it’s always a strange experience to see management successfully throw money at a problem you thought was nearly impossible to engineer around. No engineer I know would even think of burning megawatts on air conditioning to solve a moisture ingress problem, but management sees these problems in an entirely different light and sometimes the simplest solution really is to just spend money until the problem goes away.",
"parent_id": "8188017",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188175",
"author": "Hugo Oran",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T09:41:07",
"content": "What scares me more than soft high voltage, is potential glass shards generator around the neck.",
"parent_id": "8188018",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188224",
"author": "James Akers",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T12:13:46",
"content": "Oh yeah. I guess I am a little desensitized to the glass breaking as a glassmaker.I once hugged someone with a non illuminated glass necklace like this and it broke. The biggest bummer was the broken necklace- the glass just broke into a few pieces and although one of us had bare skin underneath, the skin wasn’t broken just the glass.",
"parent_id": "8188175",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188237",
"author": "BubbaBexley",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T12:41:21",
"content": "Props to Mr ScubaBearLA …. great movie.As for management tossing money at a problem.Depends – they’re “probably” (presuming they arecompetentmanagers), looking at the “big picture” (encompassing P/L’s, time deadlines, etc) making a judgement call on the action that might have a high probability of solving whatever problem is on the table.“burning megawatts on a/c”, is / was a very minor expense – compared to the movie budget vs. projected profits… also somewhat “out-of-the-box” thinking that is refreshing…. would’ve donethe same thing (given what we publicly know).However – constantly throwing money at a problem isNOTa panacea for everything.The US education system comes to mind……billions, upon billions – and guess what ?As we all know, zero improvement on the talent pool. GenZ’ers/X’s, etc – that can’t tellyou how many states are in the “USA”…… smh ….",
"parent_id": "8188018",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188828",
"author": "Dustbuster7000",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T17:19:18",
"content": "I was with you until the end and then you went sideways on education in the US. For reference, the average annual spending by the US Department of Education on elementary/high school kids is less than $2000 per child ($90b against 50 million school-ages kids in the US). If you think that’s an extravagant and unnecessary outlay for education of our kids, then I’ve got nothing for you. We are not overspending on basic education, we arewayunderspending on basic education.By comparison, more than 42% of the DoEd’s $342 billion budget in 2020 was for financial aid and direct loans for tertiary students. So paying, largely private, universities tuition fees. You wanna get all het up about waste of tax dollars, go ahead, but at least aim it at the appropriate target.",
"parent_id": "8188237",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188033",
"author": "paulvdh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T20:19:58",
"content": "Sounds like a complex and expensive solution for wanting some connectors. Those connectors could probably easily have been somewhere halfway a cable and away from the body / sweat, and soldered or crimped connectons can easily be sealed with some kind of glue / epoxy.",
"parent_id": "8188017",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188036",
"author": "Andrew",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T20:28:12",
"content": "If only they had hired you. I’m so impressed.",
"parent_id": "8188033",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188415",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T21:13:59",
"content": "The queeny bitchiness of this place sometimes…",
"parent_id": "8188036",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188047",
"author": "m1ke",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T21:55:12",
"content": "“despite our best efforts to seal those connectors”",
"parent_id": "8188033",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188085",
"author": "Michael",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T01:42:20",
"content": "Just wanted to say I’m a huge fan of your work on Tron Legacy, the result is stunning. All the costumes in that film are fantastic, though my favorites are the Daft Punk suits/helmets.",
"parent_id": "8188017",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188223",
"author": "James Akers",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T12:10:29",
"content": "wow, those effects sounded fun!I like chatting with the folks working with Industrial Light Magic. Some of them taught me how to make those crackle lightning tubes seen in star trek an star wars. They are a bit more heavy an finnicky as there are a lot more interruptions to the arc path (the interruptions being bits of broken glass).In this case, the 7 torr fill is less than 1% atmospheric pressure- so its super conductive. Even in the rain, none of us felt any current on our bodies. The neon was more conductive than the path to ground through wet wire and us- so the electricity just stayed going through the tube.I could certainly see how a flexible screenprinted lightning fabric would have more resistance than a low -pressure neon tube. I am amazed they were able to get its effect with just 300 volts!Here is a crackle tube for ya…https://expressional.social/@JamesAkers/115229038443004161",
"parent_id": "8188017",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188256",
"author": "Chr Elz",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T14:15:52",
"content": "This could be its own HAD post. I love stories like this.",
"parent_id": "8188017",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188760",
"author": "PhilR",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T15:28:01",
"content": "We were once asked to replicate that for a costume… for the sake of anyone reading this, the reality is that even the really good EL panel is basically invisible in anything other than daylight. Nowadays you would use LED strip. It can be painfully bright, but I’m not sure what you’d do about large areas without having a lot of very dense flex PCBs made. I don’t know what they did for Ares, I’d be interested to find out.",
"parent_id": "8188017",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188034",
"author": "Jakson",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T20:22:09",
"content": "That’s actual neon! Wow I’m in love with neon and I like the idea!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188075",
"author": "Mike",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T23:51:52",
"content": "Not to be a killjoy , but from a safety standpoint, this just sounds like a bad idea. Zooming on the provided links show a power supply capable of 5KV @ 20ma. Standard GFCIs trip at 4-6ma. 9w of power to a small area like that would also be quite warm. That and jumping around at a concert with delicate glass around your neck….Maybe use LED flexible filament instead? Looks like it can be found in multiple colors on ebay. More efficient, smaller battery pack needed, and likely more resilient. I understand the look wouldn’t be as cool as actual neon, but from a practicality standpoint I wouldn’t gamble with glass.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188214",
"author": "James Akers",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T11:58:32",
"content": "Thank you for your concerns. It rained at this concert actually and the neon was fine throughout the evening. No zappy’s to my neck despite my non outdoor installation :) Yeah its 5kv, but this is far from my first wearable neon rodeo, and I actually turned the midget transformer current down a bunch for its concert brightness.As a professional neon maker, the LED wire would take me longer to make and fix so its rigid. Its actually more work for me for a result that just isn’t as eye catching in the end. Sure its fragile, but none of the four I made for my friends broke in the evening. I broke two of them from my own carelessness, (dropping them from my messy desk)- but was able to just splice in a new section and repump them.",
"parent_id": "8188075",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188145",
"author": "Cody",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T07:19:32",
"content": "It’s nice to see a neon project that’s actually using neon tubes for a change. I don’t think I would want to use it for something wearable though. Even a small neon transformer really hurts when it zaps you and can leave some nasty burns too.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188391",
"author": "JB",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T20:24:12",
"content": "Worn in Atlanta will give your life a whole new meaning…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,410.126001
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/05/3d-printing-a-new-kind-of-skateboard-that-is-ultimately-unsafe/
|
3D Printing A New Kind Of Skateboard That Is Ultimately Unsafe
|
Lewin Day
|
[
"3d Printer hacks"
] |
[
"3d printer",
"one wheel",
"skateboard"
] |
Skateboards were organically developed in the 1940s and 1950s; 30 years would then pass before the ollie was developed, unlocking new realms for skaters dedicated to the artform. The advent of powerful batteries and motors would later make the electric skateboard a practical and (un?)fashionable method of transport in more recent years. Now, [Ivan Miranda] is pushing the cutting edge of skateboarding even further,
with an entirely weird build of his own design.
The build was inspired by one-wheels, which [Ivan] considers fun but ultimately too dangerous. Most specifically, he fears crashing when the one-wheel is tilted beyond a critical angle at which the motor can restore it to a level heading. His concept was to thus create a two-wheeled board that is nonetheless controlled with the leaning interface of a one-wheel.
The frame is assembled from a combination of 3D-printed brackets and aluminium extrusion. The rider stands on a platform which rides on rollers on top of the frame, tilting it to control the drive direction of the board. Detecting the angle is handled by an Arduino Due with an MPU6050 IMU onboard. The microcontroller is then responsible for commanding the speed controller to move the board. Drive is from a brushless DC motor, hooked up to one of the wheels via a toothed belt. Power is courtesy of three power tool batteries.
Early testing showed the design to be a bit of a death trap. However, with refinement to the control system code and an improved battery setup, it became slightly more graceful to ride. [Ivan] notes that more tuning and refinement is needed to make the thing safer than a one-wheel, which was the original goal.
We’ve seen some other great builds from [Ivan] before, too.
Video after the break.
| 12
| 9
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8187905",
"author": "Joshua",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T12:18:24",
"content": "Fun fact I learned from this video is plastic used to make hinges in toilet seats is very resistant to acetic acid. This could come in handy when building RC planes.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187914",
"author": "Qwerty",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T13:07:30",
"content": "I see it as a half pipe mounted on an e bike. Crazy sensitive input… LOL what a build.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187941",
"author": "Aaron Mathes",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T14:08:42",
"content": "It officially became a true skateboard when it injured your shin! Haha",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188001",
"author": "That's on a need to know basis",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T17:53:10",
"content": "havent seen an arduino due used in a while…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188029",
"author": "Jose",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T20:12:12",
"content": "looks more like a floor jack",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188031",
"author": "ThisGuy",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T20:15:16",
"content": "I haven’t bother to actually do the analysis, but I have to wonder if his “suspended pendulum” design actually works the same as a one-wheel “teeter-totter” when it comes to control input and reaction to acceleration forces. My gut reaction is that the 2 aren’t comparable and are going to have a very different control feel, possibly be with solution being potentially inherently unstable",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188222",
"author": "Anonymous",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T12:09:46",
"content": "My gut says the it is the exact opposite of a one wheel.With a one wheel it accelerates in the direction you lean to put the wheel back under the center of mass. If I understand correctly and this is something sitting in a bowl then it would have to go in the opposite direction of the lean to get under the center of mass. So if it acts the same as a one wheel it’s anti-stable.",
"parent_id": "8188031",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188962",
"author": "douyarou",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T21:44:27",
"content": "In a bowl or halfpipe, you always lean forward in the direction of motion or the board will always fly away out in front of you due to the momentum. Leaning back will put you up on two wheels and then on your butt with no wheels. It doesn’t matter if you’re going up or down. Bend your knees, lean forward, and push down with your legs at ramp transitions.",
"parent_id": "8188222",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188114",
"author": "Patrik",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T05:31:17",
"content": "Maybe just use pads with FSR:s",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188350",
"author": "make piece not war",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T18:34:02",
"content": "Err, since when skateboards were “safe”? Anything on wheels that you cannot sit on with the legs not touching the ground is not safe. Also not inplying that the reverse is true, check yt for cars smashing into anything.Am I to old?What is safe?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188412",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T21:11:40",
"content": "Yes, but this one qualifies for the rare honor of being both a death trap and also extremely slow and boring at the same time! I do want to see somebody attempt an ollie.",
"parent_id": "8188350",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188385",
"author": "Beadon",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T20:05:38",
"content": "Friends at an eskate community recommended this too — haha check it outhttps://www.reddit.com/r/ebikes/s/dHwipuOFRP",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,410.043959
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/05/simple-counter-mechanism-in-an-asthma-inhaler/
|
Simple Counter Mechanism In An Asthma Inhaler
|
Maya Posch
|
[
"Reverse Engineering",
"Teardown"
] |
[
"copd",
"mechanical counter"
] |
The counter wheel and white worm gear inside the counter. (Credit: Anthony Francis-Jones, YouTube)
Recently [Anthony Francis-Jones] decided to
take a closer look at the inhaler
that his son got prescribed for some mild breathing issues, specifically to teardown the mechanical counter on it. Commonly used with COPD conditions as well as asthma, these inhalers are designed to provide the person using it with an exact dose of medication that helps to relax the muscles of the airways. Considering the somewhat crucial nature of this in the case of extreme forms of COPD, the mechanical counter that existed on older versions of these inhalers is very helpful to know how many doses you have left.
Disassembling the inhaler is very easy, with the counter section easily extracted and further disassembled. The mechanism is both ingenious and simple, featuring the counter wheel that’s driven by a worm gear, itself engaged by a ratcheting mechanism that’s progressed every time the cylinder with the medication is pushed down against a metal spring.
After the counter wheel hits the 0 mark, a plastic tab prevents it from spinning any further, so that you know for certain that the medication has run out. In the video [Anthony] speculates that the newer, counter-less inhalers that they got with the latest prescription can perhaps be harvested for their medication cylinder to refill the old inhaler, followed by resetting the mechanical counter. Of course, this should absolutely not be taken as medical advice.
| 10
| 5
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8187850",
"author": "Menno",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T08:45:59",
"content": "“COPD conditions like asthma”Asthma is not considered a COPD condition.Asthma and COPD are different entities in terms of etiology, pathofysiology, prognosis and treatment. Pulmonary conditions like asthma would have been more accurate.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187901",
"author": "Maya Posch",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T11:59:08",
"content": "You’re correct, although it appears that they can often coexist in the same patient, which is probably where some confusion exists. I have corrected the text to hopefully better reflect reality :)",
"parent_id": "8187850",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187898",
"author": "max",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T11:35:55",
"content": "Am I the only one that has noticed that instead of delivering 200 metered doses, these inhalers actually run out half way through?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187949",
"author": "chris",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T14:30:52",
"content": "The simple looking counting mechanisms in these devices are required by the FDA to be extremely reliable, as for a “relief” asthma medication showing that there are doses left when it’s empty would be quite serious.They have a short guidance document explaining.https://www.fda.gov/files/drugs/published/Integration-of-Dose-Counting-Mechanisms-into-MDI-Drug-Products.pdf",
"parent_id": "8187898",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187986",
"author": "Greg Riebeling",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T16:28:02",
"content": "Probably not empty. Most likely plugged up. Never had one yet that didn’t need to be cleaned out by less than halfway used.",
"parent_id": "8187898",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188403",
"author": "TG",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T21:00:51",
"content": "The counter wasn’t added to better meter dosage or provide safety in the case of running out, it was to re-up a patent and allow them to continue price gouging for a now extremely cheap and common life-saving drug.",
"parent_id": "8187898",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187967",
"author": "CodeFaux",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T15:24:07",
"content": "It’s not “newer vs older” when it comes to the counter wheel. I got an inhaler over two years ago with no counter, meanwhile every one I’ve gotten since then has one. It’s about whether you buy one with a counter or not.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188090",
"author": "WestfW",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T02:25:58",
"content": "I’ll bet you could make a neat usage counter out of vape guts…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188151",
"author": "Sean",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T08:04:16",
"content": "Hehe! Brilliant.I sense a theme here with six salvaged Asthma counters, a vape processor and a combined entry to the 2026 Hackaday “One Hertz x Component Abuse challenge” melded with some 3D printing and a little electronics-fu to make a recycled clock.",
"parent_id": "8188090",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8189543",
"author": "Boerke",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T17:52:58",
"content": "anyhow, these counters probably cost just weigth them. Every puf is 0.03 grams(a 0.01 gram precision scale cost 2 euro’s on aliexpress)2>a counter used by Knitters.(available at ali for about 20 cents)press the button after every puff.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,410.501472
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/04/2025-component-abuse-challenge-digital-logic-with-analog-components/
|
2025 Component Abuse Challenge: Digital Logic With Analog Components
|
Bryan Cockfield
|
[
"contests"
] |
[
"2025 Component Abuse Challenge",
"analog",
"digital logic",
"gate",
"latch",
"logic",
"multiplexer",
"switch"
] |
[Tim] noticed recently that a large number of projects recreating discrete logic tend to do so with technology around 70 years old like resistor-transistor logic (RTL) or diode-transistor logic (DTL). To build something with these logic families nowadays requires an intense treasure hunt of antique components bordering on impossible and/or expensive. Rather than going down this rabbit hole
he decided to invent a somewhat new logic system using analog components
in this entry in our Component Abuse Challenge.
The component in question here is an analog multiplexer, which is normally used to select one of two (or several) signal lines and pass them through to an output. Unlike digital multiplexers which only pass 1s and 0s, analog multiplexers can pass analog signals since the transistors aren’t driven to saturation. He has come up with an entire system of logic gates using these components, with trickier devices like latches eventually implemented with help from a capacitor.
The first attempt at using this logic system had a small mistake in it which caused these latches to behave as oscillators instead, due to a polarity mistake. But a second attempt with simplified design and reduced component count ended up working, proving out [Tim]’s concept. Not only that but his second prototype is functioning at an impressive 15 MHz, with a possibility of an even higher clock speed in future designs. Not bad!
| 10
| 6
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8187838",
"author": "M",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T08:05:58",
"content": "Reminds me ofhttps://hackaday.io/page/21269-740414-not-all-inverters-are-the-samewhere digital ICs are used as analog amplifiers in a crystal oscillator.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187878",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T10:01:23",
"content": "This is Relay Logic implemented on solid state switches.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188005",
"author": "r390a",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T18:01:05",
"content": "I’ve used relays and diodes – both or separately. Made learning boolean algebra easier.",
"parent_id": "8187878",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188257",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T14:20:17",
"content": "The first hurdle I had to jump, when I was a kid just learning electronics, was that transistors and all the rest of the stuff aren’t switches that physically separate and connect.Describing transistors as valves didn’t quite click either, because thinking in terms of e.g. pressure differentials was too advanced: I had no conceptual framework to see what that was about because it would have required understanding a different concept that was on the same level of complexity.They’re two different worlds really: makingconnections(routing) and amplifying or diminishingsignals(R/D/T logic). Once I made that conceptual leap, transistors started making sense.",
"parent_id": "8188005",
"depth": 3,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187904",
"author": "David Duckert",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T12:13:02",
"content": "https://youtu.be/VXwOHzddzi8?si=bbWtIR4RFcnhQKPAOp amps as logic gates…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187935",
"author": "eryhretyh",
"timestamp": "2025-10-05T13:47:36",
"content": "ok, what fast it is?Can I make a 55GHz? (in us army is cpu faster than 55GHz for radio)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188366",
"author": "NS",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T19:03:00",
"content": "Digital Logic With Analog Componentsthey are using solid state relays, nothing new there, other than the solid state relays.https://datasheet4u.com/datasheet/BELLING/BL1551-930369https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93PHxVpPLxACalling it “Digital Logic With Analog Components” is misleading, since every transistor is analog as well. All transistors are analog devices at the physical level.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8188369",
"author": "NS",
"timestamp": "2025-10-06T19:07:31",
"content": "Having said so, I think the project is very cool, since I like the fact that it is using relays, with the bonus of them of being small, solid state, and energy efficient.So Kudos to Tim (cpldcpu) for this project.",
"parent_id": "8188366",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188855",
"author": "cpldcpu",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T18:26:25",
"content": "Curiously, this is a comparison that did not come to my mind. But you are completely right, of course.",
"parent_id": "8188366",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8188909",
"author": "Jackharveycan",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T20:02:08",
"content": "There is no lack of components when it comes to creating transistor-diode or resistor logic, either thru-hole or SMT, there are plenty of options available. While one may have to shop around for equivalent components when recreating old designs, it’s only a matter of persistence. See the clock under Wikipedia’s diode transistor logic page.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,410.551437
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/02/building-a-functional-alien-motion-tracker/
|
Building A FunctionalAliensMotion Tracker
|
Lewin Day
|
[
"Toy Hacks"
] |
[
"aliens",
"radar"
] |
Aliens
is the second film from the legendary science-fiction series about, well… aliens. Naturally, it featured some compelling future-tech — such as the M314 Motion Tracker. [RobSmithDev] wanted to recreate the device himself, using modern technology
to replicate the functionality as closely as possible.
While a lot of cosmetic replicas exist in the world, [Rob] wanted to make the thing work for real. To that end, he grabbed the DreamHAT+ Radar HAT for the Raspberry Pi. It’s a short-range radar module, and thus is useless for equipping your own air force or building surface-to-air weaponry. However, it
can
detect motion in a range of a few meters or so, using its 60 GHz transmitter and three receivers all baked into the one chip.
[Rob] does a great job of explaining how the radar works, and how he integrated it into a viable handheld motion tracker that works very similarly to the one in the movie. It may not exactly keep you safe from alien predators, but it’s always fun to see a
functional
prop rather than one that just looks good.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen somebody
try to replicate this particular prop,
but the modern electronics used in this build definitely bring it to the next level.
| 6
| 4
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8186765",
"author": "Yet Another Robert Smith",
"timestamp": "2025-10-02T20:53:01",
"content": "As one Rob Smith to another, well done!I for one would like a water pistol based on the UA571-C auto sentry from Aliens to keep cats out of my yard.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8186775",
"author": "dudefromthenorth",
"timestamp": "2025-10-02T21:21:52",
"content": "oh come on dude, have some extended footage of the thing (motion tracker) doing the thing (detecting motion)…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8186897",
"author": "Nomad",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T05:26:09",
"content": "watch part 2 and he shows it working at the end.It was a more or less real time video documentation not done after project completion.",
"parent_id": "8186775",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8186830",
"author": "Doppler",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T00:48:59",
"content": "This was done on HaD years ago. Functional with sound effects to. Using Ultrasonic transducers with a visual display.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187022",
"author": "Edgar Vice",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T13:22:52",
"content": "which does not work through walls, making it useless",
"parent_id": "8186830",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8190188",
"author": "hotmustard",
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T14:33:53",
"content": "Micro changes in air density my ass…",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
}
] | 1,760,371,410.681594
|
||
https://hackaday.com/2025/10/02/how-hydraulic-ram-pumps-push-water-uphill-with-no-external-power-input/
|
How Hydraulic Ram Pumps Push Water Uphill With No External Power Input
|
Lewin Day
|
[
"Hackaday Columns",
"Misc Hacks",
"Slider"
] |
[
"hydraulic ram pump",
"pump",
"water hammer"
] |
Imagine you have a natural stream running through a low-lying area on your farm. It’s a great source of fresh water, only you really need it to irrigate some crops sitting at a higher elevation. The area is quite remote from fixed utilities, complicating the problem.
Your first thought might be to grab a commercial off-the-shelf pump of some sort, along with a fancy solar power system to provide the necessary power to run it. But what if there were a type of pump that could do the job with no external power input at all? Enter the hydraulic ram pump.
The hydraulic ram pump stands as one of the most elegant examples of appropriate technology, converting the kinetic energy of flowing water into enough pressure to lift a portion of that water to heights that seem to defy gravity. This ingenious device requires no external power source and very little maintenance, making it a perfect solution for pumping applications in remote areas where it’s otherwise inconvenient to supply a pump with electricity or fuel.
A small hydraulic ram pump installed in Argentina. Note the water flowing out the waste valve, and the small hose which serves as the delivery line. It’s installed directly beneath a pressure vessel which works to smooth out the flow. Credit:
Jorge Daniel Czajkowski
, CC BY-SA 2.5
At its heart, the hydraulic ram pump exploits a phenomenon known as water hammer, the same effect that causes your pipes to bang when you quickly shut off a faucet. When flowing water is suddenly stopped, its momentum creates a pressure wave. When it comes to your pipes, you hear this rattling, hammering sound that is mostly just annoying. However, that pressure spike can actually instead be harnessed to do useful work—like pushing water uphill. It just requires some smart valving to do so.
The pump consists of just a few key components: a drive pipe that channels water from a source, a waste valve that normally allows water to flow freely, a delivery valve leading to the pump’s output, and an air chamber that acts as a pressure accumulator. These parts work together to create a self-sustaining pumping action.
The operation of the pump begins with water flowing down the drive pipe from a source that sits higher than the pump, such as the flow from a river or stream. Initially, the waste valve is open and water flows freely through it. As the flow velocity increases, the waste valve begins to rise due to the drag of the water flowing through it. Eventually, the valve rises to the point where it is completely shut, suddenly stopping the flow of water. This sudden halt causes water hammer, where the kinetic energy of the flowing water is converted into a powerful pressure spike that forces the delivery valve open, pushing water up through the pump outlet. Eventually, the pressure drop following the water hammer event causes the waste valve to reopen and the delivery valve to close, allowing the cycle to begin anew.
In the initial stage, water from the inlet flows out via the open waste valve. The delivery valve is held shut from the weight of water in the column above it. Credit: author
Eventually, drag from the water flow causes the waste valve to shut. When it does, this creates a pressure spike which opens the delivery valve and forces water up and out of to the delivery outlet. Hydraulic ram pumps can deliver water to great heights in this way, though flow is reduced with greater output head. Pressure vessels are sometimes installed in the pump to reduce the impact of pressure spikes and smooth the output flow. Eventually, the pressure spike subsides, the delivery valve closes, and the waste valve reopens due to gravity, and the cycle begins again. Credit: author
Some pumps add a pressure chamber to the system, where the pressure spike leads to a vessel, compressing the air trapped inside. The compressed air acts like a spring, maintaining outflow pressure even after the initial water hammer effect subsides. This can improve flow and reduce strain on components of the pump by evening out the sharp pressure spikes when the waste valve closes.
This being Hackaday, we should mention that this is a lot like a step-up DC-DC converter, with an inductor playing the role of the water-filled pipe, providing intertia, and a diode and a smoothing capacitor playing the parts of the check value and air vessel. In electrical step-ups, the waste valve is usually a MOSFET to ground, and its driven electronically, rather than being slammed shut by the water hammer.
A hydraulic ram pump effectively takes a rapid flow of water at low pressure and delivers a low-speed flow at high pressure, allowing water to be readily delivered to a tank or output at higher elevation than the source. The ratio between the vertical fall of the drive water and the height to which water is lifted determines the amount of water reaching the output. For example, if the water source is 1 meter above the ram pump itself, and the delivery pipe is 10 meters above the pump, just 10% of the water will be delivered to the output with the other 90% passing out through the waste valve. Ultimately, though, this is generally considered an acceptable trade-off for a pump running from a natural water course with no external power input, with the waste valve outflow simply returning to the river or stream the pump is installed in. A hydraulic ram pump can be left running for a great deal of time to deliver more water and irrigate an area or fill a tank, even if the instantaneous flow rate is low. After all, you’re not paying for any power to run it!
Hydraulic ram pumps are popular where it’s desirable to pump water to some greater height without the need for an external power source.
Today’s hydraulic ram pumps find applications ranging from rural water supply systems to irrigation projects in developing countries. The hydraulic ram pump can prove useful in most any situation where it’s desirable to pump water to high elevation with no external power input. Ultimately, the hydraulic ram pump represents sustainable technology at its finest. It’s a clean, undisruptive way to harness natural energy to do useful work. What’s more rewarding than that?
Featured image: “
Hydraulic Ram
” by [Gutza] and [Sonett72].
| 33
| 16
|
[
{
"comment_id": "8186701",
"author": "macsimki",
"timestamp": "2025-10-02T17:31:29",
"content": "we have a water ram lik this here in the Sonsbeekpark in Armhem. it feeds a fountain, albeit the smoothing is omitted, so the fountain pulses. the feed height difference is not that much. about 2 meters. but is works quite well when its turned on. it us quite loud though.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8186708",
"author": "Steven-X",
"timestamp": "2025-10-02T17:52:41",
"content": "There was a farm near my inlaws that had a hydraulic ram in a creek next to the road. I’d see it every timer I’d go for a walk. It was pretty interesting to watch.",
"parent_id": "8186701",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8186711",
"author": "Jan Prägert",
"timestamp": "2025-10-02T18:11:33",
"content": "Same principle, but different: turning off a water storage power station and then this happens in the surge tank…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJVBlhgt9j8",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8186713",
"author": "Brett",
"timestamp": "2025-10-02T18:20:05",
"content": "This is the exact same principle of an ignition coil in a car with a classic ignition system. You’re trading volume for pressure. (wattage for voltage)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8186714",
"author": "CodeFaux",
"timestamp": "2025-10-02T18:31:14",
"content": "Today I learned that as a kid, I tried really hard to “fix” a farmer’s ram pump because it was “leaking really bad” and I didn’t know better. Sorr,y old farmer bro!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8186722",
"author": "Mayhem",
"timestamp": "2025-10-02T18:39:24",
"content": "I lived in Kentucky USA as a child and alot of farms used hydraulic rams to fill their stock tanks. The inlet would be placed in a flowing creek and the outlet would be significantly higher and it would pump a pencil sized stream nonstop. The actual antique ones are very cool looking.https://mcquinnpumps.co.nz/pump/hydraulic-ram-pump-no-5/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8186754",
"author": "Dude",
"timestamp": "2025-10-02T20:15:54",
"content": "this is a lot like a step-up DC-DC converterI think the closest analog would be a Joule thief?",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8186791",
"author": "QBFreak",
"timestamp": "2025-10-02T22:16:10",
"content": "I thought this felt familiar, so I went digging. Sure enough, it was covered in a hack a few years back. I remember learning more about it at the time, as the concept was pretty interesting.https://hackaday.com/2017/06/07/diy-ram-pump-obeys-the-laws-of-physics/",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8186805",
"author": "bob",
"timestamp": "2025-10-02T23:13:39",
"content": "is it possible to build this without moving parts, such as by using a tesla valve as replacements.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8186812",
"author": "SpillsDirt",
"timestamp": "2025-10-02T23:27:48",
"content": "noa tesla valve wouldnt work in this application. They act as a one way flow restrictor. You wouldnt get the pressure build up/release cycle without a proper valve.",
"parent_id": "8186805",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187081",
"author": "Kevin",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T16:50:06",
"content": "A pulser pump does a similar job without moving parts. It has uses a trompe to build up air pressure and uses that air pressure to lift the water to a higher elevation.",
"parent_id": "8186805",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8186913",
"author": "Mary",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T06:20:56",
"content": "As a woman who loves technology I love reading how humans overcome challenges using their mind and configuring what if answers.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8186952",
"author": "DurDurDur",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T08:46:39",
"content": "“As a HUMAN woman (who is totally not an AI chatbot) that loves technology I love reading how other also human beings (who are also totally not chatbots) overcome challenges using their mind and configuring what if answers.”",
"parent_id": "8186913",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187211",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T23:04:12",
"content": "As a totally human person who interacts with physical objects using a current anthropomorphic modality, I too also interpret an implied weight of interest in the depiction of humans (living or otherwise),– comparing– composing– developing– deriving– researchingdevelopments in theoretical spaces.",
"parent_id": "8186913",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8186919",
"author": "Adrie",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T07:05:14",
"content": "Not sure if I agree with ‘no external power’. The pump needs a considerable amount of energy from the creek’s waterflow. Is that ‘external’? It’s for sure not free energy as in a perpetuum mobile.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8186923",
"author": "JustSayin",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T07:22:24",
"content": "the statement is clearly meant to reflect that the pump doesnt require electricity nor fuel to operate. scavenging gravitational energy from the water.",
"parent_id": "8186919",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8186938",
"author": "Bastet",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T08:06:14",
"content": "If today we say “no external power” we most certainly mean no electricity or burning fuel. That the system needs some energy to work should be clear for everyone.Same with a wind tower, generate wind flow with no external power needed, just exploiting pressure differences.",
"parent_id": "8186919",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8186965",
"author": "Ed",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T09:38:15",
"content": "I don’t think this is curmudgeonly. A less sensationalist title might be “waterpower pump works without electricity”, which doesn’t makes it sound like perpetual motion. “External” and “electrical” are different ideas.",
"parent_id": "8186919",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187213",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T23:06:24",
"content": "There’s use a difference in precise language and that used for ready to read articles. The biggest is the use of colloquial assumptions.It is curmudgeonly, we know what is being discussed.",
"parent_id": "8186965",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187578",
"author": "asp55",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T20:15:21",
"content": "Not only that, but saying “without electricity” would be overly limited in this case. (As it also doesn’t use fuel, wind, or heat to achieve this.)It harvests energy from the water source itself to power the pumping action. So saying “no external power input” is pretty accurate.I suppose you could argue that gravity is an external power input… but that feels disingenuous.",
"parent_id": "8187213",
"depth": 4,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187058",
"author": "kdev",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T14:57:16",
"content": "I would hope that the supposedly scientifically literate audience of a technology-centric website would not need to have it spoon-fed to them that this device does not violate the laws of physics.",
"parent_id": "8186919",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8186993",
"author": "fred",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T10:58:21",
"content": "1792 french Montgolfier pump.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8187214",
"author": "S O",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T23:08:03",
"content": "Yes, there are many examples, it’s useful to provide more than a name though.",
"parent_id": "8186993",
"depth": 2,
"replies": []
}
]
},
{
"comment_id": "8187054",
"author": "Tanner Bass",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T14:48:26",
"content": "Watching these work is a great way to understand the operation of a classic boost converter.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187183",
"author": "sodimm",
"timestamp": "2025-10-03T21:50:42",
"content": "I love these deceivingly simple solutions of yore that are still as effective and useful as they were when invented. Very few would be able to derive such an elegant solution to such problems utilizing only a few basic principles. I think it also takes some maturity and perspective to admire these.Never heard of hydraulic ram pumps before but these serve a great example, thank you HaD for that.A personal favorite of mine is the thermosiphon water heater – you may want to make a short writeup on that one as its one of these elegant solutions.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8187406",
"author": "EDWARD BOURGEAU",
"timestamp": "2025-10-04T12:30:06",
"content": "Great topic. The people that thought of this so many years ago were real problem solvers… I like the little add on discussion about the inductor !! Harvesting a bit of energy incracramently, all over the place, is the way to go… thanks for the note!",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8188457",
"author": "jenningsthecat",
"timestamp": "2025-10-07T00:23:47",
"content": "… the same effect that causes your pipes to bang when you quickly shut off a faucet… When it comes to your pipes, you hear this rattling, hammering sound that is mostly just annoying.It’s “mostly just annoying” unless you don’t turn the faucet ALL the way off. If you turn the tap ALMOST off – and do it fast enough – you may experience water hammer that just keeps going. I’m pretty sure that will eventually cause some damage, but when I experienced it I quickly turned the flow back up and then turned the valve off more slowly. (I now realize that I could have just continued turning it all the way off).When this happened to me decades ago, it wasn’t a fluke – I could repeat it at will. I didn’t do that more than a couple of times though – the noise was really loud and as a kid I found it kinda scary.I can imagine that a bunch of factors came together in just the right combination – maybe the length of the pipe, how well it was secured, the amount of play in the valve stem, the wear on the washer, and probably other things I haven’t thought of.",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189155",
"author": "Grant Yardley",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T06:35:20",
"content": "Is it better/equal to a Wirz pump?Struggling to find stats on either (that are useful for comparison..)",
"parent_id": null,
"depth": 1,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189170",
"author": "SpillsDirt",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T07:17:43",
"content": "wirz pumps are limited to applications where the required lift is below 74 feet.A hydraulic ram pump can lift water up to 600 feet above the source.",
"parent_id": "8189155",
"depth": 2,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189176",
"author": "Grant Yardley",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T07:31:06",
"content": "Thanks!I would say that would be super application specific, I have to say 70 feet seems plenty? I also light the simplicity of the Wirz, plonk them in the stream, the only moving part is an axle and the rotating connection.",
"parent_id": "8189170",
"depth": 3,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189200",
"author": "SpillsDirt",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T08:12:01",
"content": "70 feet is plenty if you only need to lift the water 70 feet.A wirz pump would be useless for us.Before my great grandfather developed the springhead in the 50s, Our family homestead’s water was pumped by a hydraulic ram pump from the stream that runs along the bottom of the property ~350 feet below our storage tanks. When he decommissioned the old rampump he setup a pelton wheel power plant on the stream. Its powered the homestead, and our electric water pump ever since.",
"parent_id": "8189176",
"depth": 4,
"replies": [
{
"comment_id": "8189235",
"author": "Grant Yardley",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T09:00:21",
"content": "Holy crap, I would LOVE to be able to live on a plot that has a 100m change in altitude!I guess this is my point. Some places this would be super useful, others, no so much. Use what works for your situation (is the message I am taking home!)",
"parent_id": "8189200",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
},
{
"comment_id": "8189246",
"author": "SpillsDirt",
"timestamp": "2025-10-08T09:27:57",
"content": "@grant yardleyIn total we have closer to 200m in total vertical change.Its a beautiful piece of land but there are drawbacks to it as well. We have very little flatland. Weve spent a lot of time, effort, and money over the years carving building sites into the hillside to preserve what natural flatland there is for livestock grazing.",
"parent_id": "8189200",
"depth": 5,
"replies": []
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
]
}
] | 1,760,371,410.760404
|
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