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My Business Card Runs Linux
I’m an embedded systems engineer. I spend a lot of my free time looking for things I could use in future designs, or things that tickle one of my fancies.
Topics /
Hardware & Electronics
The most popular blog posts about hardware & electronics on Hacker News. 298 posts.
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16-inch MacBook Pro
Apple today unveiled an all-new 16-inch MacBook Pro, the world’s best pro notebook, designed for pros from developers to scientists and more.
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Turning a MacBook into a Touchscreen with $1 of Hardware (2018)
We turned a MacBook into a touchscreen using only $1 of hardware and a little bit of computer vision.
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Nebraska farmers vote overwhelmingly for Right to Repair
Delegates of the Nebraska Farm Bureau, which represents 58,000 member families, voted nearly-unanimously on a voice vote to formally endorse the right of its constituents to repair the products they own, and set strong standards for any legislation or agreement with equipment manufacturers.
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Thinkpad X210
A couple years ago, I used an old Thinkpad while my MacBook was being repaired. I enjoyed the experience so much that I ended up getting a Thinkpad X62 (an X61 chassis with modern internals). Last S…
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Writing userspace USB drivers for abandoned devices
I recently found some USB devices on eBay (Epiphan VGA2USB LR) that could take VGA as input and present the output as a webcam. Given that I was keen on the idea of not needing to lug out a VGA monitor ever again and there was claimed Linux support I took the risk and bought the whole job lot for about £20 (25 USD).
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Adventures of putting 16 GB of RAM in a motherboard that doesn’t support it
A while ago, I put 16 GB of RAM into one of my computers. The computer is using a Foxconn P55MX motherboard with a Core i5 750. It’s old and could probably be replaced, but it still works for what I need.
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ZedRipper: A 16-core Z80 laptop
Meet the ZedRipper – a 16-core, 83 MHz Z80 powerhouse as portable as it is impractical. The ZedRipper is my latest attempt to build a fun ‘project’ machine, with a couple of goals in mind:
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Quantum Supremacy Using a Programmable Superconducting Processor
Posted by John Martinis, Chief Scientist Quantum Hardware and Sergio Boixo, Chief Scientist Quantum Computing Theory, Google AI Quantum Physicist...
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Apple introduces 8-core MacBook Pro
Apple updated MacBook Pro with faster 8th- and 9th-generation Intel Core processors, bringing eight cores to MacBook Pro for the first time.
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MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy
The 2018 MacBook Pro Keyboard Drives Me Crazy
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Off-Grid Cyberdeck: Raspberry Pi Recovery Kit
Short, medium, and long form tech projects. Detailed photos and build logs with benefits for paid subscribers.
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A Raspberry Pi-powered live train station sign
Build your own UK train station platform departure display (next train indicator) with live data using a Raspberry Pi Zero and balena.
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Making My Own Glasses
A biohacking health story about making custom glasses after conflicting eye test results from two opticians and an eye doctor for a pilot’s license exam.
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Mozilla WebThings
Mozilla WebThings is an open platform for monitoring and controlling devices over the web.
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PCI Express on the Raspberry Pi 4
After the daily dose of Hackaday - and with an idea that seemed very doable, and actually, with some improvements can be easily reproducible.
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Open source firmware is important for security
Why open source firmware is important for security.
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Making My Own USB Keyboard from Scratch
A few months ago, I completed a project to build an entire USB keyboard from scratch. This included electronic circuit design, PCB design, firmware coding, CAD design, assembly and usage. The final result is my daily driver work keyboard, which I affectionately call “KeeBee”:
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iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max
Apple today announced iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max, a new pro line for iPhone that delivers advanced performance.
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The Raspberry Pi 4 needs a fan
December 2020 Update: Lo and behold, the Pi Foundation tacitly acknowledges the Pi needs a fan in the official case, because now they sell the Case Fan! The Raspberry Pi Foundation's Pi 4 announcement blog post touted the Pi 4 as providing "PC-like level of performance for most users". The Foundation even offers a…
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Breaking max efficiency of solar cells by activating 2 electrons with 1 photon
Researchers at MIT and Princeton have found a way to increase the output of silicon solar cells by allowing a single photon to release two electrons in the silicon.
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HP printers try to send data back to HP about your devices and what you print
Last week my in-laws politely but firmly asked me to set up their new HP printer. I protested that I’m completely clueless about that sort of thing, despite my tax-return-job-title of “software engineer”. Still remonstrating, I was gently bundled into their study with an instruction pamphlet, a cup of tea, a promise…
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New Dell XPS 13 developer edition now available
Last January the Dell XPS 13 developer edition (9370) made its debut. Today we’re excited to announce that one year later its successor, the XPS 13 developer edition (9380), is now available…
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Vendors must start adding physical on/off switches to devices that can spy on us
Update (May 15, 2019): This post was linked and its author quoted as a source in this Fast Company article on the same subject. Where's my webcam's off switch? Have you ever noticed that your webcam doesn't have an "off" switch? I looked on Amazon, and I couldn't find any webcams for sale that