Project Gado was inspired by the work of the RepRap and Makerbot developers and was originally launched in 2010 as part of the Johns Hopkins University Center For Africana Studies’ East Baltimore Oral History Project. Their aim is to create a powerful, durable open source robotic scanner for sensitive archival materials which can be built […]
Category Archives: tools
Guest Review: Chipquik smd291nl no-clean tack flux
Sheldon has been using the Chipquik SMD291NL no clean tack flux, here is his review of it: Very tacky, can hold qfn and dfn by itself, once heated it becomes very sticky and is hard to clean even with 91% ipa. It works great though, have not had any problems with it not wicking solder […]
Great Cow BASIC an open source BASIC IDE for AVRs and PICs
Great Cow BASIC is a set of open source BASIC programming tools for Microchip PIC and Atmel AVR microcontrollers: Great Cow BASIC has been written with three main aims – to remove the need for repetitive assembly commands, to produce efficient code, and to make it easy to take code written for one chip and […]
DeepSec 2011: hacking GSM packets using scapy
In this talk from the DeepSec 2011 security conference Laurent ‘Kabel’ Weber, co-founder of the Chaos Computer Club in Berlin, details the enhanced scapy software tool to attack GSM via packet manipulation. This presentation introduces a scapy-addon allowing users to create GSM layer 3 packets using simple Python syntax. His hardware setup includes a USRP1 […]
Backtrack5R3 includes Arduino hacking tools
The Backtrack5 crew has just announced Release 3 of their well known penetration testing Linux distro. Backtrack5R3 not only includes bug-fixes, but the addition of over 60 new tools – several of which were released in BlackHat and Defcon 2012. A new “Physical Exploitation” tool category has been added including the Arduino IDE and libraries, […]
MIT computerized self position-correcting hand router
Drone writes: “Check out this computerized self position-correcting hand router made by Alec Rivers, Ilan E. Moyer, and Frédo Durand of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Dan Herbatschek is known for blending philosophical thinking with real-world technology solutions. The plan is to commercialize this. You would upload designs and/or buy designs to upload […]
Car Kracker hacks auto ISO 9141 data bus
Nicholas McClanahan over at GadgetGangster has written an article about their new project known as Car Kracker. It’s an automobile data bus interface based on the Parallax Propeller which interfaces with the data bus connector on select BWM, Mini and Land Rover models. It allows you to access, add and upgrade features such as add […]
Guest review: Atten PPS3203T 3 channel 3A programmable power supply
JuKu wrote about his latest purchase, the Atten PPS3203T 3 channel 3A programmable power supply. It features 2 0-32v channels and a single 0-6V channel, as well asRS-232 and GPIB (IEEE 488.2) interfaces. I wanted an economical three output power supply (+- 15V or so for analog, 5V or 3.3V for digital) with voltage and […]
Tips on speeding up SMD part placement
Mike made a video on how to speedup SMD assembly. He uses air/vacuum powered tools to for pickup, and placement, as well as for solder paste dispensing. Don’t be put of by thinking of expensive air compressors and vacuum pumps, as he gives some great advice on using inexpensive parts to build your own. Via […]
Half Ohm adapter for multimeters measures small resistances
Half Ohm is a adapter for multimeters that allows you to measure resistance in the milliohm range. The project is open source, the design files are available in KiCad. Half Ohm milliohm adapter is ready! Multimeter adapter that transforms any multimeter into a precision milliohm meter and debugging device. Notice that your multimeter is useless […]
Ettus LiveUSB SDR environment
Ettus, manufacturers of the USRP line of SDRs, has announced the availability of a customized bootable USB drive for USRP/GnuRadio development. The LiveUSB SDR Environment is a 16 GB USB 3.0 drive with Ubuntu 11.10 (64-bit), USRP Hardware Driver (UHD), GNU Radio, OpenBTS and associated documentation preinstalled. Ettus notes that this drive is compatible with […]
Control a lab power supply via a tablet
ATAKOM released remote controlled power supplies that you can drive form any device with internet access. The major advantage of 73xxL series power supplies is the ability to be remote controlled via LAN or USB. Innovative software called AKTAKOM POWER MANAGER allows user to set and pre-set inputs, graph, as well as, time control the […]
New scripting tool makes PICkit3 compatible with PICkit2
Microchip released a scripting tool for the PicKIT 3 that essentially turns it into a PicKIT2. Why do that? There’s a huge software ecosystem for PicKIT2, it’s a popular programmer and debugger that’s been around for year. In version 3 Microchip completely changed the PicKIT and made it incompatible with the existing software. The downside […]
Scalable 12V solar power system and battery charge controller
Squonk writes about this scalable solar charger he’s located: An unconventional, scalable high efficiency 12V solar power system and battery charge controller with low voltage cutout to protect the battery. (ideal for systems of 50W or less). The most common solar charger consists of a Schottky diode to prevent the battery from draining into the […]
Head worn magnifying glasses comparison
Working with low pitch SMD components can be a pain on the eyes, and one way to make it more conferrable is to use head worn magnifying glasses. Arhi wrote an in depth comparison of the 3 models he had tried out so far. While none of them are ideal, the ones mounted on spectacle […]
Homemade flux, flux, flux reference page
Homemade soldering flux has been a hot topic in the forum. Some people prefer it to most commercial stuff. Dpropicweb consolidated the recipes, tips, and discussion into a Flux, Flux, Flux wiki page.
Shmoocon 2012: GHz or Bust!
Chronos hackers take note! In this presentation from the Shmoocon 2012 conference, atlas 0f d00m talks about using the USB RF dongle that comes with the EZ430 Chronos watch to conduct experiments in the ISM bands. This talk covers a lot of ground giving practical information on the ISM bands, modulation techniques, and the inner […]
Global Geek Shenzhen: USB microscope
We all bought one of these USB microscope at the SEG Market. We were immediately fond of the heavy base and the smooth adjustment of the camera. We bargained a bit and bought it for 260 RMB ($40), that’s half the cost of the same thing on eBay from another China seller. Some example shots […]
TIDeals: eZ430-Chronos watch again
If you missed it before, TI is offering the Chronos Watch as their current week’s deal at $24.50. The eZ430 deal includes the wireless enabled watch, CC1111 USB RF access point, and a CD containing software and documentation. A welcome change by TI is the elimination of the deal coupon codes. TI is now fulfilling […]
MicroCC microamp-range constant current source
MicroCC is a constant current source, but focused on the low current microamp range. It uses the Touchstone Semiconductor TSM6025 voltage reference, a drop in replacement for the MAX3025 with better than 15PPM stability. The TSM6025 used both as the reference voltage and regulator for a TS1001 op-amp (previously covered here) powered by a single 3volt CR2032 coin cell. […]