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Hardware & Electronics

The most popular blog posts about hardware & electronics on Hacker News. 3,045 posts.

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1331

How Apple's developers reflashed Mac ROMs in the '90s

After I wrote about the possibility of programmable Mac ROM SIMMs in Quadras a couple of months ago, I suspected that there had been a way for developers at Apple in the 68k Mac era to reflash the ROM in their Macs during development, just like BIOS updates on PCs. The reason I believed this is because the ROM SIMM…

1336

Is AM radio dead?

...that was the question I asked my Dad, a radio engineer for many decades, who worked at the biggest AM station in St. Louis, KMOX. The station is approaching its centennial in 2025, as are—some YouTube commenters argue—its primary audience! I recorded that video during my convalescence at my parents' house (I am…

1341

The Mythical Non-Roboticist

What if everyone could do robotics? That would be great, right? We should make a software framework so that non-roboticists can program robots.This idea is so close to a correct idea that it's hard to tell why it's a mistake.

1343

Restoring and MIDI-Fying a Baby Grand Piano

As much as I love digital instruments, synthesizers and other electronic gear I also really love the look and feel of instruments made from wood, brass, steel and felt. There is objectively no difference between the best digitally sampled pianos but for some reason it doesn’t quite feel as much alive as an actual…

1346

Jeri Ellsworth and the Robot Uprising of 2038

In a stuffed apartment filled with hydrofluoric acid, oscilloscopes and a transistor curve tracer, Jeri Ellsworth carefully places a hand-cut silicon wafer into a 1000 degree furnace. The ambient noise of police sirens can be heard in the background: "Ugh, the police are coming... So the instructions for the…

1350

3Hz Computer, Hold the Transistors

I’m not really one to brag publicly about expensive toys, but a few weeks ago I managed to get one that’s really something special. It is a Curta Type II , a mechanical digital 1 calculator manufactured in Liechtenstein between the 50s and 70s, before solid-state calculators killed them and the likes of slide-rules.