NotesSo weâve managed to pick up an arbitrary educational computer off the side of the road, figure out its ROM pinout, make a composite mod for it, and draw pixels to the screen. Why am I still feeling dissatisfied? Itâs because I donât have printf working still.FeedUnfurl
NotesGot soldering kits that take side-insert CR2032 holders? Want to get rid of that coin cell holder and convert it to USB? The Coin Cell Be Gone does exactly this! Solder it directly to either a through-hole or surface mount side-insert footprint at the 3 castellations
NotesMake your own power bank out of any (1000 mAh or over) lithium battery!
Are you a fan of bi-directional USB-C? Hey, so are we! This awesome little board goes both ways - the USB-C connector is both an input to charge a lithium battery at 1.0-1.2A and an output that provides a boosted 5V from the battery at 1.2A!
NotesThe Sorbus Computer started with the idea on building a very simple and cheap 65C02 based computer. It was intended to show the operation of the CPU for a talk about historic computers during a talk and workshop (slides blow). Unfurl
Noteswhile doing my daily hackaday.com reading, I discovered the W65C265SXB board, a modern microcontroller with a 6502 (actually 65C816) at its core. I did a really good job resisting buying one for a while, but eventually gave in. To put this board to use I decided to put up this page with 3 small projects (added a 4th more recently) to show off some things that can be done with this newer 6502 chipUnfurl
NotesEngelbart's demo also featured an input device known as the keyset, but unlike his other innovations, the keyset failed to catch on. The 5-finger keyset lets you type without moving your hand, entering characters by pressing multiple keys simultaneously as a chord. Christina Englebart, his daughter, loaned one of Engelbart's keysets to me. I constructed an interface to connect the keyset to USB, so that it can be used with a modern computer. The video below shows me typing with the keyset, using the mouse buttons to select upper case and special characters.FeedUnfurl
Notesmy attempt to build such a capable AI computer without spending too much. I ended up with a workstation with 48GB of VRAM that cost me around 1700 eurosFeedUnfurl
NotesLook, Iâm just going to come out and say it⌠this Giant USB Button is probably too big! Itâs 228.6mm x 228.6mm x 120mm (which is 9âłx9âł x 4.725âł). The thing is, when someone asks me to build something for them, and it seems interesting, I canât really say no. And I did say ânoâ this time, but mainly due to the tight deadline. I said I would need about twice as much time as requested and luckily the client came back with âWe can do that!â So I got to work⌠FeedEmbedUnfurl
Notes[Axiometa] has recently unveiled a simple PCB that will plug into a standard solderless breadboard to provide 3.3 and 5 VDC when connected to a USB-C power supply. The device is going to start a crowdfunding campaign soon if you want to buy a completed one â but with the design files and Bill of Materials already up on GitHub, nothing stops you from spinning up your own version today.FeedEmbedUnfurl
NotesThe Beeper consitst of three parts: the hardware, the firmware runnning on the hardware, and software running on my work computer. If my computer screen is unlocked for too long, the Beeper starts beeping and because it is situated away from my desk I must get up to silence it. Mission accomplished: I stopped sitting still.Unfurl
NotesAfter 39 years, console modders have begun to develop ways to use the Nintendo Entertainment Systemâs infamous expansion slot, a key example of vestigial manufacturing. In honor of this amazing feat, which is being used to add Bluetooth and Famicom Disk System support to the console, I thought it might be good to take a look back at this fascinating wrinkle of history. Todayâs Tedium ponders the legacy of the NES Expansion Port, and where itâs going next.FeedUnfurl
NotesThe concept is simpleâget an e-ink display, and draw a dial on it using whatever graphics and scale you choose. Then, put it behind a traditional coil-driven analog dial in place of the more traditional paper scale. Now, you have an analog dial that can display any quantity you desire. Just update the screen to display a different scale as needed. Meanwhile, if you donât need to change the display, the e-ink display will draw zero power and still display the same thing.FeedEmbedUnfurl
NotesHaving decided the retro late-80s early-90s theme for JawnCon 0x1, the inspiration for the badge seemed almost immediately obvious: the iconic, venerable Hayes SmartModem oozes industrial design of the era and is instantly recognizable to any of us who grew up when computers had the decency to shriek like digital banshees to let us know when they were plotting against us. Unfurl
NotesSIDKick is a versatile sound device for C64s and C128s: it serves as a drop-in replacement for the SID 6581/8580 sound chips, and at the same time provides Sound Expander-emulation (Yamaha OPL-based FM sound), a MIDI interface and can control LED stripes. It is based on a Teensy 4.1 and makes no compromises with regard to quality: the emulation is based on reSID and fmOPL. It also comes with a few extras.Unfurl
NotesGadgetbridge is a free and open source Android application that allows you to pair and manage various gadgets such as smart watches, bands, headphones, and more without the need for the vendor application. So in short, you can use Gadgetbridge instead of relying on your gadget's own proprietary app. Unfurl
NotesUSB Insight Hub plugs into your computer through a USB Type-C connector and exposes three USB 3.0 downstream ports, each with a 1.3-inch screen that displays relevant information about the attached device. That information includes operating system enumeration name (COMx, TTYx, or drive letter), voltage, and current. USB Insight Hub also allows you to control the individual activation and deactivation of the D+/D- USB 2 data lines to force enumeration and control the power of each downstream device. A small application running on the host computer extracts USB information from the operating system and sends it to the Hub over USB.Unfurl
NotesI wanted to put together all my learning and build a music player for the RC2014. This will run using my RC2014 Classic 2 computer. It uses the LCD Driver Module, and the YM2149 Sound Card Module from Z80Kits. In addition, it also uses my ROM board, and of course the Rotary Encoder Module.FeedEmbedUnfurl
NotesBuild your own oscilloscope and learn how to visualize signals. See the signals you learn about in real life! Despite the low cost, this oscilloscope has many features only found on expensive units like signal markers, frequency, dB, true RMS readouts, etc. This powerful auto-setup function will get you going in a snap!
NotesItâs October 2024, and Retro Challenge RC2024/10 has started.
Iâm looking at interfacing rotary encoders with the RC2014 computer this year.FeedEmbedUnfurl
NotesWhy load your 8bit things via the convenience of Cassette, Disk or Cartridge when you can load things via YouTube video? Because itâs horribly slow thatâs why! But it is rather cool! And if like me youâve got a million electronic bits and bobs lying around the house, you may have enough electronic purchase left-overs to start making your own Jelly-Load interface right now! đFeedEmbedUnfurl
NotesThe Zenith Space Command, one of the first wireless television remotes ever to exist, is a monument to a time before we took the remote for granted. It also just so happened to contain one of the most influential and intriguing buttons in history. FeedUnfurl
NotesAllows you to download the current firmware for all Sony Xperia-line smartphones, tablets and accessories running Android (except really old ones).Unfurl
NotesThis tutorial shows how to build an ESP32 web server that displays a web page with multiple sliders. The sliders control the duty cycle of different PWM channels to control the brightness of multiple LEDs.FeedEmbedUnfurl
NotesSince this computer uses a CPU that is about 45 years old, it cannot compete at all with today's computers in terms of performance. However, I wanted the PERSEUS-8 to have functions and appearance that would remind us of concepts that today's computers has lost.Unfurl
NotesThe Pi Zero Serial Terminal module allows you to plug the RC2014 in to an HDMI monitor or TV and a USB keyboard, thus use it without the reliance on another computer. [Ok, yes, you are still relying on another computer â the Pi Zero â but itâs small and neat within the RC2014 footprint]
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NotesThe installation of the hardware was straightforward, but setting up the Pi to display onto the new LCD didnât go so well. It turns out this LCD, and many similar ones, ask you to enable the LCD via scripts in the LCD-show project. On my first attempt, I simply ran the relevant script (LCD35-show) as requested, but I ended up not being able to connect to my WiFi anymore!Unfurl
NotesMaking retro Atari 65XE as USB-keyboard for a modern computer. And it will leave the opportunity to use this Atari in the native mode. Arduino Leonardo is used for connect the Atari's keyboard to an USB. With an UNIX this keyboard will works without any restrictions.Unfurl
NotesFLIP CHIP was DEC's trade name (a registered trademark for DEC) for a lengthy series of small cards used to build computers, and devices for themFeedUnfurl
NotesHeres how you can make your own top quality S-Video video board for almost any Atari 8 bit. It uses few parts and would take minutes to install.Unfurl
NotesSIO2Arduino is an Atari 8-bit (800/XL/XE) device emulator that runs on the Arduino platform. It currently emulates a single Atari 1050 disk drive (D1:) but there are plans to extend it to support multiple drives as well as other devices. Unfurl
NotesThe board fits like an edge connector in between the two rows of pins in the Atari SIO port and is modeled after the Atari8Warez âPoor Mans SIO Cableâ. The side labeled âSIO23V3â is the top/up side.Unfurl