Open Hardware Association releases first Writeup about legal issues: This blog post provides information from the legal discussions surrounding open source hardware in an open hardware legal meetup event hosted at NYU by Jason Schultz, founder of Defensive Patent License, November 11, 2013. OSHWA was very grateful to be part of the event. Legal professionals […]
Category Archives: open source
Linux SteamOS beta available for download
SteamOS is the currently-in-beta Linux-based operating system that will power Valve’s new gaming-PCs-turned-consoles. While the Steam crew has been busy readying 300 beta Steam Machines, they’ve taken the time to release the code for download by Linux enthusiasts. As they describe it, SteamOS Beta is the first public release of our Linux-based operating system. The […]
An open source, $2000, metal 3-D printer
Open-source metal 3-D printer: This paper reports on the development of a <$2000 open-source metal 3-D printer. The metal 3-D printer is controlled with an open-source micro-controller and is a combination of a low-cost commercial gas-metal arc welder and a derivative of the Rostock, a deltabot RepRap. The bill of materials, electrical and mechanical design […]
A stand-alone access control with RFID
Boris of Open Electronics wrote an article on his stand-alone access control with RFID project: RFID Tags are increasingly used for many applications such as identifying objects by means of a code or access control. In logistics RFIDs allows asset tracking, or monitoring conveyor belts; in shops tags are often used as anti theft. RFIDs are […]
Open hardware pogo-pin programmer
Ethan Zonca of Protofusion writes: The PogoProg is a small open source hardware pogo pin programming solution. The PogoProg does not need a physical connector on the board, it uses surface-mount pads for signals and thru-holes for alignment. Two standard footprints are available, the smallest of which takes up very little space–only 7.6mm x 1.2mm! […]
SkyJack open source drone hacking project
SamyKamkar developed this seriously cool project to wrest control of civilian drones away from their owners. SkyJack is a drone engineered to autonomously seek out, hack, and wirelessly take full control over any other drones within wireless or flying distance, creating an army of zombie drones under your control. Using a Parrot AR.Drone 2, a […]
Rtl_fm Guide: The long lost documentation
Kyle Keen has written up documentation on his Rtl_fm utility, which enhances RTL-SDR operation on older PCs. Rtl_fm is a little utility I wrote for the RTL-SDR project. The program was made to fill a gap in software defined radio: all the computers weaker than a Pentium 4. Basically, an Atom processor processor does not […]
RTCSetup – Real Time Clock setup tool
FreeMat: another MATLAB replacement
MATLAB is software tool providing a high-level language and interactive environment for numerical computation, visualization, and programming. It is not open source and has a costly licensing structure making it impractical for the casual experimenter. There are free open source alternatives, one of which is FreeMat. “FreeMat is an interpreted matrix-oriented development environment for engineering […]
Secure Drop open source project
“SecureDrop is an open-source whistleblower submission system managed by Freedom of the Press Foundation that media organizations use to securely accept documents from anonymous sources. It was originally coded by the late Aaron Swartz.” SecureDrop is dependent on the Tor project, meaning sources who submit documents and journalists who download these documents must connect to […]
microTone Module – Simple Analog hardware interface
Here’s an open source project the microTone Module by Dilshan Jayakody: microTone Module is analog interface to connect microcontrollers or digital logic systems with PCs. This interface use PC sound card’s audio output terminal to send commands to external hardware systems. Project’s software source codes and hardware designs are available to download at sourceforge.net.
R-Pi and RTL-SDR = AFSK transmission between two Linux boxes
This video depicts the successful transmission of AFSK data via a radio link between two Linux machines using a R-Pi and an RTL-SDR dongle. The crew at Kprod posted this cool RTL-SDR project on their blog. They use minimodem to do the encoding in a FLAC or in a WAV format, then use the R-Pi […]
Realtime color tracking with Arduino and OpenMV
In a previous post we featured OpenMV, an inexpensive open-source tiny machine vision module based on an STM32F4 ARM Cortex-M4 micro and OV9650 sensor. Ibrahim has posted an update on this project, including links to the schematic and source code. The above video shows the module tracking a ball with an Arduino. Via the contact […]
Video: Multiplexed Wired Attack Surfaces
In this presentation from the recent Toorcon 15 in San Diego, CA, Michael Ossmann and Kyle Osborn detail their efforts in hacking cellphones via multiplexed USB signals. Manufacturers of mobile devices often multiplex several wired interfaces onto a single connector. Some of these interfaces, probably intended for test and development, are still enabled when the […]
Update: HackRF based SmartNet radio monitor
We previously posted about the GNURadio based scanner for SmartNet II digital radio systems. Now Luke Berndt has updated his project info and has posted samples of the decoded system audio online. It has taken a lot of futzing, but I have my HackRF recording the Washington DC’s Fire Dept radio system and making it […]
KORUZA, the open-source open-hardware wireless communication system
KORUZA, the open-source open-hardware wireless communication system by Luka Mustafa – Musti KORUZA is an innovative open-source open-hardware wireless communication system, employing a new low-cost approach to designing free-space optical network systems, enabling building-to-building connectivity with a highly collimated light beam at a capacity of 1 Gbps (1000 Mbps) at distances up to 100 m. It […]
Video: Reversing Tire Pressure Monitors with SDR
In this presentation from the recent Toorcon 15 in San Diego, CA, Jared Boone, co-developer of the HackRF SDR detailed his efforts in reversing tire pressure monitors found on most vehicles. Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS) are present on all US automobiles sold as of 2008. This talk, given at ToorCon 15 in San Diego, […]
Open source amateur radio programming software
If you own a modern amateur radio here’s an open source software project you’ll find useful. It’s called CHIRP, and supports programming of a large number of manufacturers and models, and provides a way to interface with multiple data sources and formats. Rigs included are ICOM (including D-Star models), Yaesu, Kenwood, TYT, Alinco, Baofeng and […]
ATtiny45 project adds sound activation to PC
Here’s an interesting fun project for the ATtiny45 which lets you wake up your PC by just knocking. Joonas Pihlajamaa posted the detailed project log at CodeAndLife. He describes, “Hardware-wise it’s a simple thing – ATtiny45 emulating a PS/2 device, sending a keypress when three knocks are detected in the attached piezoelectric sensor (or piezo […]
Blackhat Euro: cheap open source USB drive write blocker
At last year’s Blackhat Europe con, Philip A. Polstra, Sr. from the University of Dubuque gave a presentation detailing how to protect your USB security drive toolkit from auto erasure by the target machine. He describes the design of an open source USB flash drive write blocker based on the FTDI VNC2 MCU. His presentation […]