Krash writes to update us on his series of Spy Video Trakr hacks on Instructables. The short video above demonstrates his hack which adds motor control to raise and lower the camera. We also note the laser and missile launcher mod which grafts a USB-powered foam missile launcher, with pan and tilt, and even a […]
Category Archives: hacks
USB gamepad attachment for the Nokia N900
Andrzej “Emeryth” Surowiec writes: “I wanted to share my latest hack with you – a USB gamepad attachment for the Nokia N900. I’ve built a gamepad that connects to the USB port and fits nicely over the keyboard. It features 8 buttons and a PSP joystick, the device emulates a USB keyboard so it works […]
Bus Pirate to breadboard cable hack
Joe Desbonnet writes that he’s found a quick and cheap Bus Pirate to breadboard cable hack. “I needed to check out a I2C temperature/humidity sensor with the Bus Pirate on a breadboard. So I hacked this connector comprising a short length of 10 wire ribbon cable, a 5×2 IDE connector to mate with the BusPirate […]
Nicolas Collins’ original hardware hacking manual
If you want to read an irreverent and unorthodox hardware hacking manual check out Nicolas Collins’ Original Hacking Manual. Weighing in at 128 PDF pages, this book is geared toward motivating beginning electronics experimenters to explore uses and abuses for common electronic components. Topics include basic electronics through integrated circuits and circuit bending of all […]
Homemade Bus Pirate and AVR-based PIC24F programmer
Josef built this homemade version of the Bus Pirate. Unfortunately he didn’t have a programer to upload the firmware, so being a good hacker he designed and built his own. The programer is AVR based and uses a MAX232 IC to interface with the computer. He promised to post the AVR firmware, and the programing […]
Parallax laser range finder / Game Boy printer hack
Joe Grand, developer of the Parallax Laser Range Finder (LRF) presents this hack interfacing the LRF with a vintage Game Boy printer. The project uses the LRF’s onboard camera, along with a few circuit and firmware mods, to allow the user to take snapshots and have them printed by the Game Boy. Complete source files […]
Ruxcon 2011: Hacking the wireless world with SDR
Software engineer and perpetural hacker Balint Seeber presented this talk at the Ruxcon 2011 conference held November 19-20, 2011 in Melbourne, AU. Balint presents those unfamiliar with SDR with the basics of the hardware and software you’ll need and highlights what’s out there in the lesser known areas of the RF spectrum. He explains some […]
Another Logic Sniffer ground mod
Here is a mod to add ground to unused Logic Sniffer probes, like the one built by Tarloth. He grounded the top row of a dual-row female header, and soldered the bottom row to his Open Bench Logic Sniffer. This allowed him to both improve signal integrity, and be able to mate his OBLS with […]
Get your 5v LCD running on 3.3V
Here is a hack that will let you use some 5v HD44780 LCDs at 3V. On some common LCDs you can short the resistor labeled R7 and interface with the LCD at 3.3V. Via the forum.
Basic kludges: 5 minute SOIC-DIP adapter
Here’s a quick way to how to adapt an SOIC surface mount chip to replace a through-hole part. You can do this with stuff on your bench: a DIP IC socket, a few wires, and a wood scrap. Beautiful? Heck no. (More like slimy but satisfying.) But finding a way to get your circuit board […]
Defcon 19: Hacking over power lines
Dave Kennedy (ReL1K) presented this talk at last summer’s Defcon 19 conference demonstrating the relative insecurity of home automation devices, such as X10, HomePlug and ZWave modules, which communicate either locally over power lines or via RF in the ISM bands. The presentation covers usage of the Teensy Arduino-based device to emulate a keyboard when […]
Bus Blaster hack: Flashing a PC BIOS chip
Zougloub modified the Bus Blaster V2 somewhat and successfully flashed a PC BIOS chip. By using the onboard FTDI FT2232H chip in SPI mode, and slightly modifying the CPLD logic, he successfully established a link to the BIOS chip. He was now able to update his BIOS and use a processor with his motherboard that […]
A Larson scanner just in time for Halloween
Here’s a project for Battlestar Gallactica fans. Mike developed a Larson scanner, or popularized by the scanning eye of the Cylons. The effect is done by fading LEDs with pulse-width modulation to produce the TV show’s hallmark effect. Via the contact form.
Derbycon/Defcon: battery firmware hacking
We use laptops everyday and as long as the battery isn’t dead we probably don’t give it much thought. It turns out that most laptop batteries contain a smart chip which controls battery charge rate and ensures safety parameters are observed among other purposes. In this video from the recently concluded Derbycon conference in Louisville, […]
Reading I2C temp sensor without uC
Schazamp tried to read an I2C temperature sensor using only logic chips. It isn’t working yet, but the writeup is impressively detailed: My project is to use logic devices to read a TC74 temperature sensor. The general idea is to have some kind of master clock (from 3 of the 74HC04’s 6 inverters), manipulate the […]
Spy Video Trakr with Lego robot arm
Steve Schuler likes to hack the Spy Video Trakr. His most recent efforts involve adding a Lego grabber arm. He writes: I have added a Lego grabber arm to the Spy Video Trakr. The Trakr is a remote controlled robot equipped with a microphone and color video camera, speaker, a near infrared LED for night […]
Nike+iPod reverse engineering (protocol too)
Dmitry Grinberg informs us of his latest project reverse engineering the Nike + iPod protocol. Basically this is a wireless protocol used by Nike to communicate data from certain shoe products to programs running on an iPod or iPhone. He says: “Nike+iPod is a very interesting piece of hardware for all kinds of reasons, not […]
PIC LCD backpack free PCB build and hack
Having built a free PIC LCD backpack PCB, Ezflyr decided to hack its pins to use with his temperature and humidity sensor. He successfully adjusted LCD backpack’s firmware, and developed a small app to display the temperature and humidity information on the computer. Via the forum. If you build a free PCB we’ll send you another one! […]
How-to use surface mount parts with a breadboard
Pppd shared a tip for using surface mount parts with a breadboard, mount them on 0.1″ pin header: Also, I’m probably not the first one to do it this way… but if you don’t like through-hole parts just as much as I hate them you may want to use surface mount resistors, capacitors or even […]
Voltage monitor for car’s battery and its charging system
Raj designed a car battery volt-meter. The core of the project is a PIC16F1827 which uses its internal fixed voltage reference FVR and ADC to precisely measure the battery voltage. Measured voltage is displayed on a 4 digit 7 segment display. His circuit is connected to the car’s battery through a standard car lighter jack. Via the […]