Projects
- Needed a quick NAS, slapped a WD Black drive on a Beagleboard X15.
- A friend of mine needed to keep track of the water level in a rural water tank. Several years later, they needed a replacement.
- Sub-$10 sensor network node - Microcontroller, Lithium Ion cell charger, 915 MHz ISM band FSK/ASK radio. The 915MHz-BCON.
- Thirty-two digit, 7+1 Segment LED display panel. Suitable for DRO applications.
- Salvage an RF module from an Xbox 360 and use it with a desktop computer: a how-to.
- My 1320 lumen bike light project, made from old laptop batteries and spare parts.
- DIY bench-top power supply, made from salvaged and surplus parts.
- A basic 65C02 microprocessor computer on a 4"x3" PCB. Bonus: It fits on top of a Parallax BoE-bot frame.
- 'Low cost' two axis multipurpose desktop CNC table; Parallax Propeller, Allegro A4988 stepper motor drivers, and a whole bunch of aluminum.
Teardown and Tinker
- I took apart a Harris radio CR123 battery case on a whim, and discovered a manufacturing mystery.
- An in-depth look of the Light L16 camera, one of the stranger consumer devices I've seen.
- Looking to add exactly two Ethernet ports to your computer via USB? You have choices.
- Waited nine months for Starlink, took apart the router on day two.
- After Hewlett-Packard, probably Texas Instruments makes the most well-known graphing calculators. Watch as I crack into a TI-92 Plus, one of their flagship devices from the 1990's.
- Ever wondered what was on the inside of a Mitsubishi OmniQuest ST251 Mobile Satellite Terminal?
- Took a look into the microcontroller of the Nintendo Wiimote with an eye twoard running arbitrary code on it.
- Hey, look what I found! A Kodak Theatre HD Player for five bucks! Let's take it apart and make it do tricks.
- Documenting my shenanigans with a HTC Dream/T-Mobile G1/Google G1 phone
Deep Dives
- A short note on getting an Apple iSight Firewire camera working on Linux. Spoiler: No longer supported.
Events
- 2021-08-7/8 - Vintage Computer Festival West 2021 -
Mainframe ServicesRicochet Network Collection - This didn't work out the way I wanted it to; started with a major project to provide Unix services to the convention, ended up on Plan C, bringing a unrelated static display. - 2015-08-03 - DEFCON 23 Hardware Hacking Village Unofficial Parts Kit - A freebee I handed out at the convention!
News
Dates in YYYY-MM-DD format because what the hell is wrong with you people why would you do it any other way. 2024-11-30 - Teardown of a Harris military battery, and of the Light 16 camera battery! 2023-03-27 - Trying to get an Apple iSight Firewire/IEEE 1394 camera working on Linux? Me too! 2022-05-16 - Teardowns! Check out the new Starlink Router, and a couple of odd USB-Ethernet adapters! 2021-11-27 - Two updates in one year? I'm right on schedule. I've posted the final update to the VCFW2021 page, and I've put together a overview of a home NAS project based on a Beagelboard X15. 2021-08-12 - I bought a couple of Ti-92 Pluses because I needed a desk calculator. Curiosity got the better of me and I pulled one apart. 2020-10-11 - eBay is a wonderful place to find odd hardware. Check out this teardown of a General Dynamics military headset/USB audio interface box, for example. 2020-01-11 - It's been a while; I've put together a bunch of updates for ya'll: Wiimote, water tank level monitors V1 and V2, and teardown of a Mitsubishi satellite terminal. 2015-08-03 - I put together a parts kit (unofficially) for DEFCON 23 Hardware Hacking Village. Check out the documentation here. 2015-04-09 - After several years (!) of on-again-off-again development my 32 digit LED displays are up
A test board has been built up, the CPLD works, and I'm diving into the firmware. 2013-10-08 - 65C02 SBC boards are off to the printer. 2013-08-29 - I start my investigations into building a 'low cost' two axis multipurpose desktop CNC table.