301
Compiling OCaml to the TI-84 CE Calculator
In this post, I’ll explain how I compiled an OCaml program to run on a TI-84+ CE calculator. 🐪
Topics /
Hardware & Electronics
The most popular blog posts about hardware & electronics on Hacker News. 326 posts.
302
The Begining of the End for ANT+ Wireless
First off, no, your ANT+ devices aren’t goin...
303
A Tektronix TDS 684B Oscilloscope Uses CCD Analog Memory
I have a Tektronix TDS 684B oscilloscope that I bought cheaply at an auction. It has 4 channels, 1 GHz of BW and a sample rate of 5 Gsps. Those are respectable numbers even by today’s standards. It’s also the main reason why I have it: compared to modern oscilloscopes, the other features aren’t nearly as impressive…
304
How Boom uses software to accelerate hardware development
How Boom Supersonic uses software to accelerate hardware development
305
Binary modding a water dispenser to save me from pressing a button (2021)
A few months ago, I decided that it’s time I started to become more responsible and to start drinking more water. Unfortunately, the tap water where I live has a very high calcium content, which makes it a lot better when filtered and cooled first. To solve both issues, I picked up a second-hand professional water…
306
Why doesn't Apple make a standalone Touch ID?
I finally upgraded to a mechanical keyboard. But because Apple's so protective of their Touch ID hardware, there aren't any mechanical keyboards with that feature built in. But there is a way to hack it. It's incredibly wasteful, and takes a bit more patience than I think most people have, but you basically take an…
307
Installing UEFI Firmware on ARM SBCs
I'm going to neuralyze the SPI flash and install some Kelvin Timeline firmware that will allow me to boot and install generic ARM Linux images on a ROCK 5 ITX+.
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Bad Smart Watch Authentication
IDO based smart watches are a security nightmare, and there's likely millions of them out there
310
Xbox Hacks: The A20 (2021)
In the early 2000s the Xbox was released. We are nearing the 20 year anniversary so its time to dive into the A20 "hack".
311
Turning my ESP32 into a DNS sinkhole to fight doomscrolling
A fun project that I learned a lot from.
312
$5 whale listening hydrophone making workshop
Whale songs were first noticed by accident, when analysts tracking Russian submarines at the height of the cold war heard cetacean interference instead. An engineer sent some recordings to Roger Payne, a biologist friend of his, who did something that proved pivotal: he played the hours-long recordings on his hi-fi at…
313
Vetinari's Clock (2011)
In the excellent Discworld series the character Lord Vetinari has a clock in his waiting room which is designed to tick irregularly in order to make his visitor feel ill at ease. Inspired by a post featured on Hackaday I decided to build my own version of this clock with a simple and easy to make design.
314
Wasp Blower
Departing wasps always take flight from the small crack under the door sill
315
Native vs. emulation: World of Warcraft game performance on Snapdragon X Elite
Benchmarking World of Warcraft performance when running native and emulated on Windows on ARM.
316
Minisforum Stuffs Entire Arm Homelab in the MS-R1
The Minisforum MS-R1 uses the same Cix CD8180 Arm SoC as the Orion O6 I reviewed earlier this year. But everything else about this thing is different. What this thing should be, is a box that runs Linux and can compete with at least an Apple M1 Mac mini, or a mid-range Mini PC. But what we got... is something…
317
This Old SGI: notes and memoirs on the Silicon Graphics 4D series (1996)
I am posting this assortment of notes and observations as a kind of "thank you" to the numerous people who have replied to my posts in the past. The free flow of information is the life-blood of the internet community, and this is my feeble attempt to maintain that flow, while at the same time repaying the kindness…
318
DIY PTP Grandmaster Clock with a Raspberry Pi
tl;dr: I set up an open source Time Pi project to build a stratum 1 PTP and NTP timeserver using a Raspberry Pi. Time is important to modern society, and most of us have a clock on our wrist that's more accurate than at any time in human history. But highly precise time is important in many industries, especially…
319
The Qweremin
In the summer of 2022 I built a C64-based theremin, described and explained here . The theremin, of course, is one of the oldest electronic instruments. Its main drawback—and strength—is that it's incredibly hard to master. The performer has ultimate control over volume and pitch, but it takes months of practice…
320
Modern 6502
Mike Kohn's music, software, and electronics projects.
321
Project Mini Rack – compact and portable homelabs
Today I'm announcing Project MINI RACK, an open source project to help those building homelabs, RF/wireless rigs, and other electronics projects into mini 10" racks. Not everyone can afford (either due to budget or space constraints) to have a full 19" rack in their home. Besides that, people may want to deploy small…
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Designing a low-cost high-performance 10 MHz – 15 GHz vector network analyzer
Designing a cheap two-port vector network analyzer with good measurement accuracy.
324
Windows 7 x64 Extended Support Page
Windows 7 ESU extended support for all Windows 7 users out there!
325
Here be dragons: Preventing static damage, latchup, and metastability in the 386
I've been reverse-engineering the Intel 386 processor (from 1985), and I've come across some interesting circuits for the chip's input/outpu...
326
Hacking the Yamaha DX9 to Turn It into a DX7 (2023)
A brief account of hacking the Yamaha DX9's firmware ROM to make its functionality more closely match the DX7.