Linux Fu: Debugging Bash Scripts

A recent post about debugging constructs surprised me. There were quite a few comments about how you didn’t need a debugger, as long as you had printf. For that matter, we’ve all debugged systems where you had nothing but an LED to flash or otherwise turn on to communicate …read more

Weird Substances: Hagfish Slime

In the cold, dark recesses of ocean floors around the world, hagfish slither around like sea snakes, searching for food. When a hagfish finds a suitable carcass, it devours the dead fish in two different ways. As it burrows face-first through the tissue, eating with its jaw-less, tentacled mouth, the …read more

Patch, Or Your Solid State Drives Roll Over And Die

Expiration dates for computer drives? That’s what a line of HP solid-state drives are facing as the variable for their uptime counter is running out. When it does, the drive “expires” and, well, no more data storage for you!

There are a series of stages in the evolution of a …read more

Teardown: 168-in-1 Retro Handheld Game

The holidays are upon us, and that can mean many furrowed brows trying to figure out what token gift they can give out this year as stocking-stuffers. Something that’s a bit more interesting than a coupon book or a lotto scratcher, but also affordable enough that you can buy a …read more

Chandrayaan-2 Found By Citizen Scientist; Reminds Us Of Pluto Discovery

What does Pluto — not the dog, but the non-Planet — have in common with the Vikram lunar lander launched by India? Both were found by making very tiny comparisons to photographs. You’d think landing something on the moon would be old hat by now, but it turns out only …read more

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A Stunning Ray Gun Built From Junk

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By Kristina Panos | December 12, 2019

If ever there was a quintessential weapon of science fiction, it would have to be the ray gun. [lonesoulsurfer] built this one-of-a-kind stunner from his impressive collection of junk. It’s centered around a vintage Bakelite soldering gun, a vacuum tube, and a portable stove burner, all of which contribute to …read more
Software Defined Radio Gets Physical Control

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By Tom Nardi | December 12, 2019

Software Defined Radio (SDR) is a great technology, but there’s something so satisfying about spinning a physical knob to cruise the airwaves. Wanting to restore that tactile experience, [Tysonpower] purchased a cheap USB volume knob and set out to get it working with his software. Unfortunately, getting it up and …read more
An Arduino And An Enigma All Rolled Into One

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By Gerrit Coetzee | December 12, 2019

This hacker has been wanting to design an Enigma machine simulator for a while, but didn’t take the leap until they realized there was a compact Arduino with a surplus of I/O.

The logs go through all sort of variations on the machine. Everything from a plug board variation similar …read more
Supercon SMD Challenge Gets 3D Printed Probes: Build Your Own

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By Al Williams | December 12, 2019

This year was the second SMD challenge at Supercon, so it stands to reason we probably learned a few things from last year. If you aren’t familiar with the challenge, you are served some pretty conventional tools and have to solder a board with LEDs getting progressively smaller until you …read more
Custom Nixies Perform When Cranked Up To 100,000 Hertz

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By Dan Maloney | December 12, 2019

With the popularity of Nixie clocks, we’d be forgiven for thinking that the glowing tubes are only good for applications with a stately pace of change. But we forget that before they became the must-have hobbyist accessory, Nixies were used in all kinds of scientific instruments, from frequency counters to …read more
WWII Aircraft Radio Roars To Life: What It Takes To Restore A Piece Of History

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By Gregory L. Charvat | December 12, 2019

I’ve been told all my life about old-timey Army/Navy surplus stores where you could buy buckets of FT-243 crystals, radio gear, gas masks, and even a Jeep boxed-up in a big wooden crate. Sadly this is no longer the case. Today surplus stores only have contemporary Chinese-made boots, camping gear, …read more
Sleeper PlayStation Hides A Raspberry Pi 4

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By Tom Nardi | December 12, 2019

[Andreas Wilcox] wanted to get his brother a birthday gift that reflected their shared love for the early days of 3D gaming, but just handing him a second-hand original PlayStation lacked a certain style. So he decided to gut the classic system and replace its dated internals with a shiny …read more

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Linux Fu: Debugging Bash Scripts

Weird Substances: Hagfish Slime

Patch, Or Your Solid State Drives Roll Over And Die

Teardown: 168-in-1 Retro Handheld Game

Chandrayaan-2 Found By Citizen Scientist; Reminds Us Of Pluto Discovery

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WWII Aircraft Radio Roars To Life: What It Takes To Restore A Piece Of History

The Story Of The Quickening: Mercurial Metal

Patch, Or Your Solid State Drives Roll Over And Die

Can You Piezo A Peugeot?

Chandrayaan-2 Found By Citizen Scientist; Reminds Us Of Pluto Discovery

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Supercon SMD Challenge Gets 3D Printed Probes: Build Your Own

Linux Fu: Debugging Bash Scripts

Weird Substances: Hagfish Slime

Open-Source Satellite Propulsion Hack Chat

Teardown: 168-in-1 Retro Handheld Game

Linux Fu: Debugging Bash Scripts

Weird Substances: Hagfish Slime

Patch, Or Your Solid State Drives Roll Over And Die

Teardown: 168-in-1 Retro Handheld Game

Chandrayaan-2 Found By Citizen Scientist; Reminds Us Of Pluto Discovery

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