Category Archives: hacks

Arduino decision box BE (Attiny85)

nqtronix wrote this instructable detailing the build of his Arduino Decision ‘Box’ BE (Breadboard edition): Pleace notice: This project neither contains a box nor any Arduino* code. I stuck with this name because this project is a modifictaion of Victor8o5’s “Arduino decision box 2.0 (Attiny85)” posted three days ago. I liked the way it looks and works, […]

A database of SMS cards: The technology inside IBM’s 1960s mainframes

Ken Shirriff writes: Although the original idea of SMS cards was to standardize on a few types, the number of different cards exploded as time went one, resulting in thousands of different SMS card types. As well as logic gates, SMS cards can have an amazing variety of functions such as an oscillator, voltage regulator, […]

Sine wave oscillator using LM741

Sine wave oscillator using LM741, a project by A.M. Bhatt of EngineersGarage:   There are different kinds of Sine wave oscillators based on the components used or based on the output frequency that they generate 1. Based on components means if they produce oscillation using resistors (R) and capacitors (C) then they are called RC oscillators […]

BFO for SSB reception

Dilshan Jayakody writes: This post is about beat frequency oscillator (BFO) module which is used to receive SSB and CW signals from ordinary shortwave receiver. The original circuit which is related to this post is obtained through the internet and we modify it to get more precise output with commonly available electronic components. (Unfortunately at the […]

TwinTeeth: The PCB mini-factory

Diyouware TwinTeeth, an open-source PCB mini-factory : It includes the following functions: UV Laser photoengraving on sensitive film or presensitized boards using an ultraviolet laser. Drilling vias and holes using any mini-rotary tool like Dremel® or Proxxon® Dispensing solder paste with precision on SMD PCB pads Plotting circuits with a permanent pen-maker (if you prefer […]

Two transistor superheterodyne shortwave receiver

Dilshan Jayakody writes: This is two transistor and two IF transformer based superheterodyne receiver which is designed to receive 13m to 41m bands. With quiet good external antenna this receiver performs similar to commercially available shortwave receiver and its audio quality is in very satisfactory level. This receiver can be constructing on PCB, breadboard or […]

WiFi thermostat with weekly scheduler

A WiFi thermostat with weekly scheduler project by Martin Harizanov: As additional feature, I’ve added thermostat function based on Trystan Lea’s Open Thermostat Scheduler, only my code runs entirely off the ESP8266 SoC. The UI is touch-friendly and works great on mobile devices I’ve also added broadcasting functionality, allowing the board to send its state to third […]

Drive a stepper motor with acceleration and deceleration using an Allegro driver on ATmega8

Davide Gironi writes: This library drive a stepper motor using the Allegro A3967 (EasyDriver) on ATmega8. It will also work on the Allegro a4988, and other type of motor driver controlled by the number of pulse received. It features: direction changing speed changing acceleration and deceleration multiple motor driving stop spinning after number of step, […]

Clocked 8-bit random pattern generator for CMOS synth

Michael of Acidbourbon built a clocked 8-bit random pattern generator and wrote a post on his blog detailing its assembly: The idea behind this circuit is really simple: Build a white noise source Amplify the noise until it has CMOS/TTL logic level (0V=Lo, 5V=Hi) Use a clocked flip flop to sample the high frequency noise at a […]

Power playground project

Spacewrench over at Dorkbotpdx published a new build, a Power Playground project: It’s a PMOS/NMOS H-Bridge with FETs that can handle 3 amps or so, plus a SPI current sensor, some switches & a rotary encoder (not stuffed yet), and a 7-segment display, all controlled by a Teensy-3.1 running FreeRTOS. I made this because I’m always running into battery, […]

Audible frequency chirp sonar with the Stellaris Launchpad

Jason Bowling writes: Over the last year I’ve been working towards an underwater sonar system for ROVs and surface boats. In order to learn the basic signal processing required to detect the echoes, I initially got a simple sonar working in air with a desktop conferencing USB speaker/mic running on Windows. A writeup, including source, […]

Flir Lepton thermal imaging sensor + gameduino 2

Andrew Rossignol of The Resistor Network writes: I have successfully implemented a driver for the Lepton module and displayed frames on an LCD. This is all running on an STM32F4 processor on a Nucleo board. Attached to it is a Gameduino 2 which incorporates the FT800 graphics processor. I have implemented my own colorization and […]

Portable VCR Raspberry Pi

MisterM wrote this instructable detailing his 1981 portable VCR Raspberry PI media centre: This is an early ’80s Sharp VC-2300H portable VCR that I’ve converted – it now has a Raspberry Pi at its heart, running the excellent Raspbmc media centre software. Other upgrades include a snazzy arduino-based clock and an EL wire “tape” that ejects […]

CCC video – Fernvale: An Open Hardware and Software Platform

At the recently concluded CCC conference in Hamburg, Germany, bunnie and Xobs presented their “lawful method for converting closed IP into open IP.” We introduce Fernvale, a reverse-engineered, open hardware and software platform based upon Mediatek’s MT6260 value phone SoC. The MT6260 is the chip that powers many of the $10 GSM feature phones produced […]