Ken Shirriff writes: Could an IBM mainframe from the 1960s mine Bitcoin? The idea seemed crazy, so I decided to find out. I implemented the Bitcoin hash algorithm in assembly code for the IBM 1401 and tested it on a working vintage mainframe. It turns out that this computer could mine, but so slowly it […]
Author Archives: DP
A signal amplifier module for HF
Marcus Jenkins blogged about his radio frequency amplifier project he made using DirtyBoard PCB’s In building QRP HF radios, having an RF signal level amplifier building block is handy. You want 50 Ohm output impedance, some reasonable gain, supply voltage of the usual 10-14V and ease of building using standard parts from your parts bin. Some […]
Arduino time lapse – camera pan device
An Arduino camera pan device project from Bajdi Electronics: I own one of these small action cameras (SJcam SJ4000). I bought it because it’s small, and easy to take with you wherever you go. To make nice stable videos I mount it on a mini tripod. This got me thinking that it would be fun to have […]
Bus Pirate v3.8 free PCB build
@kizzap88 tweeted picture of his free Bus Pirate v3.8 PCB build. The Bus Pirate is an open source hacker multi-tool that talks to electronic stuff. If you build a free PCB we’ll send you another one! Blog about it, post a picture on Flicker, whatever – we’ll send you a coupon code for the free PCB drawer. […]
Free PCB Sunday: Pick your PCB
We go through a lot of prototype PCBs, and end up with lots of extras that we’ll never use. Every Sunday we give away a few PCBs from one of our past or future projects, or a related prototype. Our PCBs are made through Seeed Studio’s Fusion board service. This week two random commenters will […]
App note: EMC tests and PCB guidelines for automotive linear regulators
PCB design guidelines from ON Semiconductors on minimizing electromagnetic interference (EMI) on automotive linear regulators. Link is here Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) is important for the functionality and security of electronic devices. Today’s designers must deal with steadily increasing system frequencies, changing power limits, high-density layouts required by more complex systems, and the ever-present need for […]
App note: Chameleon™ technology enables low cost smart passive sensors
A self-calibrating sensor app note from ON Semiconductors. Link is here ON Semiconductor’s Smart Passive Sensors powered by a Magnus®−S integrated circuit (IC) family offers the industry’s only self-tuning capability, called Chameleon technology. Implemented in an on-chip analog signal processing circuit, Chameleon technology automatically adjusts the input impedance of the IC to optimally tune the […]
Free PCB coupon via Facebook to 2 random commenters
Every Friday we give away some extra PCBs via Facebook. This post was announced on Facebook, and on Monday we’ll send coupon codes to two random commenters. The coupon code usually go to Facebook ‘Other’ Messages Folder . More PCBs via Twitter on Tuesday and the blog every Sunday. Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times every […]
Great results milling PCBs from Eagle with the Nomad
Liyanage over at Carbide 3D Community site writes: Milling PCBs was one of my main reasons for getting a Nomad. I finally found some time to learn how to use Eagle and the related tools and mill my first boards. While diving into the intricacies of these tools, I came across a forum discussing non […]
Uber home automation
Eric of ElectronicHamsters wrote an article detailing his Uber home automation project: garage door sensor, battery powered mailbox sensor or door monitor, multi sensor, laundry room washer-dryer notifier, prototype of dog tracker, garage genie and remote control, smart mouse trap. Project info at ElectronicHamsters project page. Check out the project instructables here.
Bus Pirate support in Python3 for I2C scripting
Steve aka hwstar writes, “I just wanted to let you know that I modified the python Buspirate Bitbang.py file and the I2C.py file to support Python 3.4 for a project I’m working on, and wanted to share these files with the community as they are open source. I uploaded the modified files to Github. These files […]
Nokia phone Arduino shield
Charles Pax is making an Arduino shield for the old Nokia phone: The cheapest and most common old phone we’ve seen is the Nokia 3100. There’s no camera, no Bluetooth, no WiFi, no frills at all. Perfect! We can pick it up in the market for just a few dollars. This is a pretty old phone […]
FM430 – A MSP430 and TEA5767 project that lets you listen to clear digital FM
From the comments on our earlier FM radio receiver post. Rohit Gupta shows off his digital FM Receiver on MSP430 using TEA5767: I completed one yesterday using the MSP430 and TEA5767 Chip. Gave it a minimalist switch to toggle the channels stored in an array. Gives realtime channel strength and transmission quality values too over serial. […]
12-minute Mandelbrot: fractals on a 50 year old IBM 1401 mainframe
Ken Shirriff writes: When I found out that the Computer History Museum has a working IBM 1401 computer[1], I wondered if it could generate the Mandelbrot fractal. I wrote a fractal program in assembly language and the computer chugged away for 12 minutes to create the Mandelbrot image on its line printer. In the process […]
Open source ground station project SatNOGS with Dangerous Prototypes sticker
@elkos tweeted this picture of open source ground station from Satnogs.org team with Dangerous Prototypes sticker attached to it: Seems that some @SatNOGS groundstation builders are @dangerousproto fans. Source @N6PSE post
#FreePCB via Twitter to 2 random RTs
Every Tuesday we give away two coupons for the free PCB drawer via Twitter. This post was announced on Twitter, and in 24 hours we’ll send coupon codes to two random retweeters. Don’t forget there’s free PCBs three times a every week: Hate Twitter and Facebook? Free PCB Sunday is the classic PCB giveaway. Catch […]
Low noise amplifier – 100MHz to 300MHz
In this video Hpux735 demonstrates his Sky67015 LNA breakout board: A Low noise amplifier (or LNA) is a special amplifier that is designed to be the first amplifier in a receiver. It is vital that the first amplifier of a receiver has low noise, because the noise of the whole system is dominated by the first […]
CD2003 – yet another simple FM radio receiver
Dilshan Jayakody writes: In last few days we are looking for some simple FM radio receiver to integrate into one of our ongoing project. For that we try several FM radio receiver ICs including TDA7000, CD2003/TA2003/TA8164, CXA1019 and KA22429. Out of all those chips we select CD2003 (or TA2003/TA8164) based receiver for our project because of […]
TinyK20 open source ARM debug/universal board
Erich has posted an update on his open source ARM debug/universal board project. We wrote about it previously: After the proof of concept phase (see “Proof of Concept: Open Source ARM SWD Debug and General Purpose Board“), the first prototypes are ready I had the first prototypes of the board we have produced internally in my […]
Wavewatch, a soundcard oscilloscope and waveform generator
D4p0up shared his open source soundcard oscilloscope in the project log forum: Here is a tool that might help some of you in your DIY activities : WaveWatch, a soundcard oscilloscope 100% made with Processing. I’ve just released the 1.3 version, making it a very credible, user friendly and totally open source alternative to existing soundcard […]