In a boost to the open source software movement, the United States Department of Defense (DoD) issued a 68+ page report entitled Open Technology Development (OTD): Lessons Learned & Best Practices for Military Software, the DoD outlines the military’s experiences with and approval of open source software. From this paragraph on page 1 of the […]
Category Archives: documentation
Open Source Activity Map
Redhat and the Georgia Institute of Technology have teamed up to produce an interactive map showing relative activity involving open source software among 75 countries. Countries are ranked according to the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Open Source Index (OSI). Thanks to Cristian Palma who submitted this info via the contact form.
Hacking police car live video cams
Today embedded systems are proliferating in business and government enterprises. One growing trend is to embed live video cameras in police vehicles, so that command headquarters can have a real time view of what’s going on in and around police cruisers. Here’s a white paper by digitamunition describing how a penetration tester went about gaining […]
Parallax GPS + Arduino
Here’s a good video from Kevin Darrah for those new to GPS basics demonstrating how to interface the Parallax GPS module with the Arduino. Note that while this video is based on the discontinued PMB-248 module, Parallax indicates that their current PMB-688 module is pin compatible (as far as TTL interfacing is concerned) and will […]
pyBusPirateLite support for Windows
There is a new version of pyBusPirateLite, the Python library for interacting with the Bus Pirate. It now supports Windows versions of Python. You can download the latest version from the Bus Pirate SVN Repository, or a package containing just pyBusPirateLite. See the wiki page on Bus Pirate Scripting in Python to get started.
S/PDIF Digital Audio on the Parallax Propeller
Beth from scanlime has posted a detailed explanation of her development of an S/PDIF encoder object for the Parallax Propeller. The source code is open under an MIT-style license. If you’re a Propeller enthusiast it should be easy to implement this code to give your next sound project a digital output. Beth hopes that this […]
Verizon 2011 data breach report
Verizon has released their 2011 Data Breach Investigations Report, a 74 page PDF cataloging the various type of cyber attacks they encountered in 2010. It resulted from a study conducted by the Verizon RISK Team with cooperation from the U.S. Secret Service and the Dutch High Tech Crime Unit. Despite the cool cover, it’s mostly […]
How cops hack your cellphone in 90 seconds
You may have seen reports in the media recently, such as this MSNBC report highlighting the practice by police of extracting data from the cellphones of innocent civilians. While we’re not going to discuss the political or legal aspects of this practice, from a hacker perspective it’s interesting to know what type of tools and […]
Help NIST identify these mysterious scientific objects
The National Institute of Standards and Technology accumulates hundreds of odd scientific and technical items each year, often without knowing their exact name or purpose. They have posted photos of various vintage items, and their tentative title in an effort to identify them. In coming months, NIST will add hundreds more mystery tools to those […]
Replacing discrete 7400 logic devices with CPLDs
Whether you are working on a retro computing device, or experimenting with digital logic, you’ll find that in most instances CPLDs can perform the same operations as a cluster of 7400 series discrete logic chips. Discrete logic devices, long considered the workhorses of the semiconductor industry, held a unit cost advantage over programmable logic devices […]
App Note: Versatility of CTMU
This Microchip application note explores the many uses for the Charge Time Measurement Unit (CTMU). CTMU is a flexible analog module that provides accurate differential time measurement between pulse sources, as well as asynchronous pulse generation. Together with other on-chip analog modules, the CTMU can be used to precisely measure time, measure capacitance, measure relative […]
Mini robot design using CoolRunner-II CPLD
It’s National Robotics Week, and what would National Robotics Week be without a CPLD based mini robot design? Here’s a mini robot design project outline (PDF!) found in the World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology journal. While it’s not a “how to” style article (no schematic/code provided), it describes the advantages of using CPLDs […]
FCC adopts spread spectrum rules changes
According to the ARRL, the FCC has adopted changes to the rules governing the use of spread spectrum radio transmissions by US Amateur Radio operators. The rule changes, which take effect April 29, 2011, eliminate the requirement that amateur stations transmitting Spread Spectrum use Automatic Power Control (APC) to reduce transmitter power. This requirement proved […]
Datasheet tips for newbies (and everyone else)
Circuitguy has published this guide entitled Datasheets (Don’t) Lie on his website. Its intended to show newbies how easy it is to mistake a component’s capabilities when you fail to consider all relevant information on the datasheet. Something those new, and not so new to the hobby, have to keep in mind.
Wikibooks: resources for free
wikibooks is a collection of open-content textbooks. still growing there are a few subjects we find useful. Give one a try: Vhdl for fpga design, C programing, Practical electronics, Electronics, Electronics Handbook and many others in the works.
Architecture of FPGAs and CPLDs: a tutorial
Stephen Brown and Jonathan Rose of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, authored this paper providing a tutorial survey of architectures of commercially available high-capacity field-programmable devices (FPDs). They first define the relevant terminology in the field and then describe the evolution of FPDs. The three main categories of FPDs are […]
Soldering Is Easy comic book
Here’s a cool resource for teaching soldering basics to anyone. Mitch Altman, Jeff “Mightyohm” Keyzer, and Andie Nordgren just released their “Soldering is Easy” comic book. It’s part of a book they are working on that will be published later this year. Download your own PDF copy at the MightyOhm website. Via MAKE.
Bell System Technical Journal online
Drone sends this link to a digitized version of the Bell System technical journal, 1922-1983. It’s searchable by title and author. Looks like a great resource for retro tech phreaks. Thanks Drone! Via contact form.
FPGA startups: a brief history
The FPGA manufacturing business has seen many players come and go over its brief history. Unlike the microcontroller industry, where many of the early manufacturers are still in business, the PLD arena has been whittled down to just a few of its early competitors. This article by Eric Esteve posted on SemiWiki chronicles the business […]
App Note: Grid-connected solar microinverter using a dsPIC® DSC
In this advanced app note Microchip details the theory behind converting solar energy into usable electric power. Starting with a discussion of the electrical characteristics of photovoltaic (PV) cells, they move onto the tech behind inverters and the mathematics involved with their proper design and use. Finally a microinverter reference design is presented, using a […]