External News Archives - Page 31 of 211

Boeing Still Used Floppy Disks to Update the Software in Its 747s

May 3, 2021 by CrackedConsole

Those of us who’ve been around and using technology for a while remember the era of floppy disks. You know, they look like “save” icons, but they were real pieces of plastic with magnetic media inside that stored a trivially small amount of data. You might not use floppies anymore, but some industries are stuck with the technology of yesteryear—for example, airlines. British Airways recently retired its fleet of 747s, giving us a chance to see how its floppy-based software update system works. It’s a real blast from the past.

Bluetooth Controlled LED Matrix

May 3, 2021 by CrackedConsole

A hand-crafted 8×8 LED matrix driven on Arduino using the MCP23017 GPIO expander and controlled via Bluetooth from an Android device.

The internet is littered with tutorials teaching how to use dot matrices or build them, so why add-in another one I hear you say? Simply because making LED displays is fun, the outcome is eye-pleasing and useful in every way you could imagine. And since we’re at the age of IoT, what a better way to interact with it than from your smartphone. I used the LED matrix I built as a scrolling ticker, just to showcase the versatility of such a device. In the following I’ll shed some light on the essential building blocks of this project.

This Little RaspberryPi Device Lets You View Your NFTs

May 2, 2021 by CrackedConsole

Snarflakes designed a Raspberry Pi-based displayer that lets you view your NFT images whenever you like.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are a new concept in the world of cryptocurrency, though the idea itself is timeless. A fungible currency or commodity is one that is identical in value to every other unit of its type. Conventional currency is fungible, because a particular dollar bill always has the same value as any other dollar bill. A non-fungible commodity’s value is dependent on its own unique characteristics. Diamonds, for example, vary in value depending on their size, clarity, inclusions, and so on. NFTs are units of currency with values specific to themselves, and they’re usually represented as images. This Raspberry Pi-based device lets you view those NFT images whenever you like.

Paper Pi is an Ergonomic Cyberdeck Meant for Thumbs

May 2, 2021 by CrackedConsole

What’s the fastest way to master console stuff like screen or emacs? Force yourself to use it exclusively, of course. But maybe you’d be tempted to cheat with a desktop. We know we would be. In that case, you ought to build a console-only cyberdeck like this sweet little thing by [a8skh4].

This cyberdeck serves another purpose as well — the keyboard layout is Miryoku, so [a8ksh4] can get more practice with that at the same time. Fortunately, the layout is built for emacs.

Inside is a Raspberry Pi 4 and what looks to be an Arduino handling the keyboard input. The Paper Pi spotlights a 4.2″ e-ink screen between a split thumb keyboard that’s made of soft, silent, tactile switches.

A Mini Bluetooth Dot Matrix Printer

April 30, 2021 by CrackedConsole

This ATmega328P-powered device is like a tiny modern-day telegraph printer.

YouTuber Et Discover built a miniature printer that’s controlled by his phone over Bluetooth. The device uses a pen as the marking device and a micro servo and linkage system to move it back and forth. The small strip of paper is advanced by a 24BYJ-48 stepper motor, along with a ULN2003 driver, allowing for sequential control over pen placement.

What’s interesting from a mechanical standpoint is that the pen doesn’t descend to the paper to make each dot, but instead the rig employs an electromagnet to bounce the paper up to hit the pen. A neodymium magnet is embedded in the small printed platform that rises up to receive a dot, and a boost converter is used to produce 24 volts for actuation.

Power Supply Uses Thin Form Factor

April 30, 2021 by CrackedConsole

We’ve seen lots of power supply projects that start with an ATX PC power supply. Why not? They are cheap and readily available. Generally, they perform well and have a good deal of possible output. [Maco2229’s] design, though, looks a lot different. First, it is in a handsome 3D-printed enclosure. But besides that, it uses a TFX power supply — the kind of supply made for very small PCs as you’d find in a point of sale terminal or a set-top box.

Thingiverse Files…

Playing Connect Four against a mini golfing AI opponent

April 29, 2021 by CrackedConsole

Have you dreamed of combining the two incredible activities putt-putt and Connect Four together into the same game? Well one daring maker set out to do just that. Bithead’s innovative design involves a mini golf surface with seven holes at the end corresponding to the columns. The system can keep track of where each golf ball is with an array of 42 color sensors that are each connected to one of seven I2C multiplexers, all leading to a single Arduino Uno.

A DIY Stepper Motor Analyzer Designed for Your 3D Printers

April 29, 2021 by CrackedConsole

This open source analyzer comes with an easy-to-use setup and tests each and every parameter of a stepper motor.

If you have a 3D printer and want to analyze the stepper motor signals without the use of a computer and expensive stepper analyzer, then this low-cost hardware design can solve your problem. The open source analyzer comes with an easy-to-use setup and can be easily built to give you the capabilities to test each and every parameter of the stepper motor.

This 3D Printer Extrudes Molten Glass to Form Parts

April 28, 2021 by CrackedConsole

Lios Design, a team formed by MIT students, is well on its way to perfecting molten glass 3D printing.

The vast majority of 3D-printed objects are plastic. Most FFF (Fused-Filament Fabrication) 3D printers use thermoplastic filament and LCD/SLA (Stereolithography) 3D printers use photopolymer resin. Other materials, like ceramic, concrete, and metal, are somewhat common. We’ve even seen organic tissue and various foods being 3D-printed on occasion. But glass is difficult to print, because of the temperatures required and the physical properties of molten glass. That’s why it is impressive that Lios Design, a team formed by MIT students, is well on its way to perfecting molten glass 3D printing.

A Golden Wii Made For Queen Elizabeth II Is Now For Sale

April 28, 2021 by CrackedConsole

Back in 2009, as part of a publicity stunt for… Big Family Games, publisher THQ commissioned the creation of a golden Nintendo Wii, and had it delivered to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

The Queen likely never received the console—as outlined in this excellent episode of People Make Games—but it did eventually find its way into the hands of collector Donny Fillerup, one of the guys behind the website consolevariations.com, which I wrote about back in 2019.