The latest blog posts to take off on Hacker News. 3,045 posts.
The Open 7400 Logic Competition is a crowd-sourced contest with a simple but broad criteria for entry: build something interesting out of discrete logic chips. It's now in its second year, and this time around I was inspired to enter it.
The Intel 8086 processor was introduced in 1978, setting the course of modern computing. While the x86 processor family has supported 64-b...
Since the Raspberry Pi 4 came out last year, we now have an excellent candidate to base the mini server on. The faster processor and option for up to 8GB of RAM opens up more possibilities for what you can do with it, including now being more than capable as a general Linux desktop system, so with all that in mind…
This page discusses how I added a microSD card to my reMarkable tablet . I did this because I want to develop software for my rM without wearing out the internal eMMC. I chose an external card because I want to be able to swap them easily; it also makes backups faster.
Examining the extent of AVX related downclocking on Intel’s Ice Lake CPU
One under-appreciated characteristic of early microprocessors is the difficulty of distributing power inside the integrated circuit. While...
How to connect a 68k Mac to the internet without an ethernet card!
EDIT 2022-07-22: With the shutdown (or imminent shutdown) of the 2G/EDGE/3G network in the US I'm now switching to a BlackBerry Q10, which supports LTE and is able to run ConnectBot.
I built a 28-core gigabit cluster, Kraken, consisting of 7 Raspberry Pi 3 Model Bs.
Some years ago I decided to install a server at home for use as a NAS (network-attached storage) in my home network, and for an Internet-facing server. I live in a place where blackouts are very in…
Motivation Despite using a FTTH internet connection since 2014, aside from the one fiber uplink, I had always used network gear with 1 Gbit/s links over regular old rj45 cat5(e) cables. I liked the simplicity and uniformity of that setup, but decided it’s time to add at least one fiber connection, to get rid of a…
I’ve been idly looking for one of the mid-90s ThinkPads known to have perfect OpenStep/Rhapsody support for years as a fun collector piece, but been unwilling to pay eBay prices. The other week I scored a pristine IBM ThinkPad 560E for $20 in a Shopgoodwill auction, below is notes on getting it up and running, plus…
The Intel 8086 microprocessor is one of the most influential chips ever created; it led to the x86 architecture that dominates desktop an...
The keyboard is done! This is basically the result of what I've been working on for the past 2 months, which has involved 3 iterations of testing machines, over 100 printed switches, and now finally a keyboard that I can type on. Unfortunately it is not a very good keyboard, but you can't win them all.
Here's another iteration on the Zero Terminal projects I've been working on for a few years. For those of you who haven't seen them, I've been trying to design the most usable all in one Pi Zero computer out there.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the open RISC-V instruction set architecture (ISA) is the vector extension (RISC-V "V"). In contrast to the average single-instruction multipe-data (SIMD) instruction set, RISC-V vector instructions are vector length agnostic (VLA). Thus, a RISC-V "V" CPU is flexible in choosing a…
I bought a couple EdgeStar AP14001HS portable air conditioners in April 2020, since I expect to spend most of the Summer at home. I'm not able to use window A/Cs here, though that would be the obvious choice for efficiency because all the hot parts remain outside.
A few years ago I splurged on an exercise bike. It’s a pretty expensive item imho, both in upfront and ongoing subscription costs. But I was able to justify it by riding it all the time so that per-ride it wasn’t that expensive. I’m happy to say this was a huge boon for my fitness and it was worth every penny.
As I mentioned in my last post I’ve been working on reverse engineering the PLA chip in the C128. I’m now mostly done with this process so I think it’s time to share some of the findings.
Today I’m publishing tihle, a new emulator targeting TI graphing calculators (currently only the 83+, but maybe others later). There’s rather a lot to say about it, but here I will discuss the motivation for a new emulator and the state of the art followed by technical notes on the design and initial development…
Today I want to show you a watch modification that I've been working on. I'm calling it the Data Runner, and it's another F91W mod, this time going the extra mile to make something functional and nice looking.
I bought a Pinebook Pro in the first batch, and have been using it on and off for several months now. Some people I know wanted to know if ...
Introduced in 1978, the revolutionary Intel 8086 microprocessor led to the x86 processors used in most desktop and server computing today....
I’ve often said that if we convince ourselves that technology is magic, we risk becoming hostages to it . Just recently, I had a brush with this fate, but happily, I was saved by open source.
Z80 Explorer is a Z80 netlist-level simulator capable of running Z80 machine code and also an educational tool with features that help reverse engineer and understand this chip better.
I work remotely and have for many years, but let's be honest: it's the case for a lot of people now. Lately I've been trying to step up how my home office looks, especially with regards to its video conferencing capabilities. I started using a DSLR as
The Intel 8086 microprocessor is one of the most influential chips ever created; it led to the x86 architecture that dominates desktop and...
Principles of how pulse oximetry works explained without using complicated physics.
Way back in late 2019 , I dissected a Reolink B800 IP camera to demonstrate the various parts of an embedded Linux system. It’s fairly nice hardware, actually—it has a 4K video sensor, a microphone, power over Ethernet, and is nominally waterproof. And yes, it runs Linux.
