Author Archives: the machinegeek

MCU-in-the-middle attack on Diebold voting machine

Computerized voting machine vulnerabilities are nothing new, but this video demonstrating a man-in-the-middle wireless attack on a Diebold voting machine takes a different tact than most others. A vulnerability assessment team at Argonne National Laboratories was able to compromise the security of the Diebold machine, rendering it vulnerable by using a homemade MCU board at […]

LCD-MCU interface tutorial

Rickey’s World has an interesting collection of information on interfacing LCDs to MCUs. Beginners will find a lot of information here on the use of standard HD44780 LCD displays, including the basics as well as the generation of custom characters. If you’re already familiar with LCD interfacing this can serve as a handy reference.

CheapStat open source DIY potentiostat

A potentiostat is an electronic instrument that controls the voltage difference between a Working Electrode and a Reference Electrode contained in an electrochemical cell. Control is achieved by injecting current into the cell through an Auxiliary, or Counter, electrode. Commercial units sell for up to $10,000, but the researchers at University of California (Santa Barbara) […]

Propeller Development Stick v 1.1 released

Parker Dillmann of Longhorn Engineer writes to inform us that: I just finished V1.1 of the Propeller Development Stick. Link to all the info here. The stick is a miniature Propeller dev board which can plug directly into your computer’s USB port and was designed with goals of minimal cost and size. You can check […]

Parallax introduces Eddie robotics platform

Parallax is introducing a new robotics platform based on the Propeller microcontroller. Known as Eddie, which stands for Expandable Development Discs for Innovation and Experimentation, the platform consists of dual 18 inch round bases positioned one above the other. The upper is designed with mounts for a Kinect and a laptop (used for what Parallax […]

Let the sparks fly with flyback transformers

Flyback transformers are used to drive the large odd shaped coils surround the neck of CRTs in TVs and computer monitors. They operate in the 15 to 150 kHz range, and can be used to generate high voltages! Uzzors2k decided to experiment with generating voltages high enough to produce arcs, driving the the transformers with […]

STM32 F4 series of high-performance MCUs with DSP and FPU instructions

Matty informs us of a new STM32 dev board he learned about: There’s a new STM32: the F4 series. They can go up to 168 MHz, and have a bunch of new integrated peripherals, like 54 Mbps camera interface and DSP+FPU. There’s also the STM32F4DISCOVERY board on sale for $20, with an STM32F407 (Cortex-M4F), 3-axis […]

CommodoreFree online magazine

If you are into retrocomputing with the Commodore C64 or clone then you will be interested in reading CommodoreFree. This is a free online magazine which has been published since 2007 and is now in its 53 issue. You can download all issues beginning with number 4 from the CommodoreFree website in PDF, text, Epub […]

Free webinar: OpenStack open source cloud framework

Oreilly is offering a free webinar on the topic of the OpenStack open source cloud framework. Open Source, Devops and Cloudcomputing, none exists without the other. Join Andrew Clay Shafer for a guided tour of the OpenStack projects and ecosystems. He’ll start with the history and context of the project, then walk through the architecture […]

Ford and Bug Labs develop open-source R&D platform

According to Ford Motor Company’s press release, they are partnering with Bug Labs * Ford and Bug Labs, an open-source hardware and software provider, announce a joint development project to research, develop and distribute open-source developer tools to advance in-car connectivity innovation. * Known as “OpenXC,” the research platform is based on Bug Labs’ open-source […]

ATtiny2313 based servo tester

Ejberg.dk has developed this project for a simple ATtiny2313 based servo tester. This device lets you test servos by varying the pulse width between limits of 0.8000 ms and 2.2000 ms selectable through the use of four buttons. While the schematic shows an Atmel AT90S2313, the circuit will work with the popular ATtiny2313 using version […]

How to find your location using GSM data

Boris Landoni writes to call attention to his interesting article in Open Electronics describing how to find your location using GSM Cell ID data: The radio mobile network is made up of a number of adjacent radio cells, each of which is characterized by an identifier consisting of four data: a progressive number (Cell ID), […]

Atmel and Arduino Collaborate on AVR and ARM-based Development Platforms

Atmel and Arduino have announced a cooperative effort to produce three new AVR and ARM-based dev platforms debuting at the Atmel-sponsored Arduino Pavilion at Maker Faire located in Queens, New York, September 17 and 18, 2011. According to Atmel’s press release: Atmel and Arduino will be demonstrating several platforms in the Atmel-sponsored Arduino Pavilion including: […]

APCO25 protocol encryption cracked

The APCO25 (P25) communications protocol is a form of digital radio communications technology growing in popularity in police and other public safety radio systems in the US and abroad. Many such systems are unencrypted and can be received on digital radio scanners. Others employ encryption in an effort to prevent civilian monitoring. Now researchers with […]

andLinux: seamlessly run Linux apps on Windows

Michael Reed of LinuxJournal has posted this review of the andLinux distro. Primarily he gives it positive marks, while pointing out concerns about security and the age of the distro from which it’s derived (Ubuntu 9.04), as well as the fact that Linux apps cannot make use of a processor’s multicores. You can tryout the […]

TI Deals offers solar experimenter board

TI Deals has the eZ430-RF2500-SEH solar energy harvesting wireless development tool on sale for $74.50 (including free International shipping) while supplies last. According to TI, the board includes 1x eZ430-RF2500-SEH kit, two eZ430-RF2500T wireless target boards, one eZ430-RF USB debugging interface, one AAA battery pack with expansion board (batteries included), one SEH-01 Solar Energy Harvester […]

Arduino IDE hack speeds up code compile

Paul Stoffregen over at PJRC sent us a link to this video highlighting how to modify the Arduino IDE by editing the boards.txt file to allow the compiler to use precompiled files. This helps to speed up the overall compile and upload process. A cool enhancement originally developed for the Teensyduino board. Paul submitted this […]

SkyNET air drone hacks wifi on the fly

Researchers at the Stevens Institute of Technology have designed and built the prototype of a WiFi hacking air drone based on the AR.Drone quadcopter. They added a lightweight single board computer with Debian Linux installed, along with 3G mobile broadband connectivity and two WiFi cards (the second for packet injection.) A GPS receiver and sonar […]