2461
Notes on the Pentium's microcode circuitry
Most people think of machine instructions as the fundamental steps that a computer performs. However, many processors have another layer of ...
Topics /
Hardware & Electronics
The most popular blog posts about hardware & electronics on Hacker News. 4,805 posts.
2462
2463
How many billions of transistors in an iPhone processor?
In about 10 years, Apple has multiplied by 19 the number of transistors in its mobile processors. It corresponds roughly to a steady rate of improvement of 34% per year on the number of transistors, or a doubling every 2.5 years. In real dollars, an iPhone has roughly a constant price: the price tag of … Continue…
2464
2465
Why the original Macintosh had a screen resolution of 512×324
Many classic Macs came with — or supported — displays running at 512x384 pixels, but many compact Macs, ranging from the original 1984 machine up through 1991’s Macintosh Classic II had built-in CRTs running at 512x342 pixels. That covers all black-and-white compact Macs with a 9-inch screen. The later Color Classic…
2466
How is portable AM radio possible?
If AM radio antennas were as long as a quarter wavelength of the carrier signal, you'd need an antenna as long as a football field.
2467
Walkie-Textie Wireless Communicator
The Walkie-Textie is a simple handheld device with a 12-key keypad and OLED display that allows you to send and receive text messages using the LoRa wireless protocol. It's ideal for situations where there's no mobile signal, such as when you're camping or hiking in a remote area, when you don't want the cost of a…
2468
Refurb weekend: the Symbolics MacIvory Lisp machine I have hated
Every collector has that machine, the machine they sunk so much time and, often, money into that they would have defenestrated it years ago...
2469
FPGA Dev Boards for $150 or Less
FPGA Development Boards for Under $150 Posted today In the dynamic world of FPGA design, breaking the bank shouldn't be a prerequisite to diving into hands-on experimentation and learning. Fortunately, a plethora of FPGA development boards have emerged that are not only feature-rich, but also surprisingly affordab
2470
2471
Bookworm – the new version of Raspberry Pi OS
It's an odd-numbered year, so there is a new major Debian release, and we are now releasing the corresponding version of Raspberry Pi OS.
2472
The BeagleBone AI is Available
BeagleBoard.org Foundation is a Michigan, USA-based 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation existing to provide education in and collaboration around the design and use of open-source software and hardware in embedded computing.
2473
Lumen: Auto brightness based on screen contents
Lumen is a menu bar application for macOS that magically sets the screen brightness based on your screen contents.
2474
The basics of decoupling capacitors
How to stabilize digital supply voltages - and why most of the online advice on this topic is suspect.
2475
Apple iMac Pro and Secure Storage
Explore the Duo Blog for expert tips, security insights, and resources to stay updated on the latest in security and access management trends.
2476
Mechanical Keyboard Sounds – A listening Museum
36 mechanical keyboards. Click. Type. Listen. From IBM Model M (1985) to modern thocky customs.
2477
2478
2479
Hacking the Humane AI Pin
On February 18, 2025, Humane announced it would be shutting down all services for the always online Humane Ai Pin in ten days, following a sale to HP . I had been vaguely aware of the Ai Pin, definitely more so than the average tech person, as I have a close friend who was one of the earliest adopters and eventually…
2480
2481
Framework 13 AMD 7040 Series: A Developer's First Impressions
My Initial experience with this brand new modular laptop
2482
2483
How to Track Your Kids (and Other People's Kids) with the TicTocTrack Watch
Do you ever hear those stories from your parents along the lines of "when I was young..." and then there's a tale of how risky life was back then compared to today. You know, stuff like having to walk themselves to school without adult supervision, crazy stuff like that
2484
New LoRa RF distance record
The long term LoRaWAN® distance world record of 832 km / 517 mi has been broken. The new record now stands at 1336 km / 830 miles. After 3 years, the new world
2485
Evolving my ergonomic setup (or, my laptop with extra steps)
My computer setup attracts attention when I'm out and about. This has two effects: engineers [1] ask me about it, and everyone else ignores me. These effects are not undesirable, but further testing is required.
2486
Storage Pod 6.0: Building a 60 Drive 480TB Storage Server
Get the details on Storage Pod 6.0 and learn how to build your own data storage server.
2487
The End of an Athlon
When I was researching the mess related to strange and poorly documented CPUID bits in the Athlon MP and XP processors , I had to swap a lot of CPUs. This was uneventful in most cases… but only most.
2488
Puget Systems' Perspective on Intel CPU Instability Issues
You may have heard about instability issues with Intel Core 13th and 14th Gen desktop processors. The issue has been gaining more attention as time goes on. I am posting to share what we've experienced here at Puget Systems, and what we're doing about it.
2489
2490
Ultrasonic Payments
Experimenting with ultrasonic data transmission in JavaScript as a payment method.