Android Head Unit Gets Volume Knob Upgrade

January 17, 2025 by 22 Comments

Touch screen head units are pretty much the norm these days. Many compromise with annoying on-screen volume controls or tiny buttons. If you find yourself with such a unit, you  might like to hack in a real volume knob. [Daniel Ross] shows us how to do just that.

The build uses an ATMega328 as the heart of the operation, though [Daniel] notes an Arduino Uno or Mini would have done just fine. It’s set up with a 74HC14 hex Schmitt trigger, and a CD4066 quad bilateral switch on a custom PCB. As for the volume knob itself, it’s not a real analog pot, instead it’s using a rotary encoder with a center push button. The way it works is that the Arduino reads the encoder, and figures out whether you’re trying to turn the volume up or down based on the direction you’re turning it. It then sends commands to the CD4066 to switch resistors in and out of circuit with lines going to the stereo to emulate the action of volume buttons on the steering wheel.

[Daniel’s] guide explains how everything works in greater detail, and how you can calibrate your head unit to accept these signals while preserving the function of your actual steering wheel volume buttons. Then you just have to find a neat way to integrate the knob into your existing dashboard.

We don’t see as many car stereo hacks in this era when infotainment systems rule all, but we’ve seen some great stuff from older vehicles over the years. Video after the break.

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New Bambu Lab Firmware Update Adds Mandatory Authorization Control System

January 17, 2025 by 105 Comments

As per a recent Bambu Lab blog post, its FDM printers in the X1 series will soon receive a firmware update that adds mandatory authentication for certain operations, starting with the firmware update on January 23rd for the aforementioned FDM printers. These operations include performing firmware upgrades, initiating a print job (LAN or cloud), remote video access and adjusting parameters on the printer. Using the printer directly and starting prints from an SD card are not affected.

As reasoning for this new feature Bambu Lab points to recent exploits that gave strangers access to people’s printers, though cheekily linking to an article on an Anycubic printer exploit. While admittedly a concern, this mostly affects internet-exposed printers, such as those that are tied into a ‘cloud’ account. Even so, LAN-based printing also falls under this new mandatory authentication system, with Bambu Lab offering a new tool called Bambu Connect for those who insist on using non-Bambu Lab branded software like OrcaSlicer. This allows for exported G-code files to be sent to a (property authenticated) Bambu Lab printer.

For those who do not wish to use this feature, not upgrading the firmware is currently the only recourse. Although this firmware update is only for X1-series printers, Bambu Lab promised that it’ll arrive for their other printers too in due time. While Bambu Lab printer owners consider installing the alternative X1 Plus firmware, the peanut gallery can discuss the potential security issues (or lack thereof) of an open Fluidd or similar UI on their LAN-connected, Klipper-based FDM printers.

Thanks to [mip] for the tip.

Hackaday Podcast Episode 304: Glitching The RP2350, Sim Sim Sim, And A Scrunchie Clock

January 17, 2025 by 1 Comment

It’s podcast time again, and this week Dan sat down with Elliot for a look back at all the cool hacks we’ve written about. We started off talking about Hackaday Europe, which is coming up in March — seems unlikely that it’s just around the corner, but there it is. There’s also good news: the Hack Chat is back, and we started things off with a bang as Eben Upton stopped by to talk all things Pi. Separately, we talked about fault injection attacks, including how to find the hidden cup of  0xC0FFEE in an RP2350.

We saw a very cool piece of LED jewelry that does a fluid simulation, a direct conversion radio that’s all laid out in front of you, and the scrunchiest mechanical digital clock you’ll ever see. We saw blinkenlights for blinkenlights’ sake, all the ways to put threads in your prints, and how to ditch to coax and wire up your antennas with Cat 6 cable. Plus, it’s an Al Williams twofer in the Can’t-Miss Articles, with a look back at life before GPS and how you can tune into digital ham radio, no radio required.

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You Can Build Your Own Hubless Roller Blades And Ride Off Road

January 17, 2025 by 19 Comments

Regular roller blades go way back, relying on a number of wheels mounted in a line and relying on regular bearings. [The Q] came up with an altogether more interesting design by handcrafting some tall skates with two hubless wheels apiece.

The build eliminates the hard work of creating the shoe part of the skates. Instead, an existing pair of roller blades was used, and modified to run the alternative hubless setup. The hubless wheels themselves were built by essentially wrapping a few large ball bearings with foam tires from an existing scooter wheel. The ball bearings have a large internal diameter, which creates the hubless look. They’re then mounted to a replacement steel frame that was mounted to the original skates.

Are there any benefits to hubless wheels in this application? Probably not, other than aesthetics. These skates are far heavier than before, and with poorer rolling resistance. However, we will note that the softer foam tires and large rolling diameter would probably offer some benefits on rougher surfaces. They even appear to work on hard-packed dirt, which is pretty impressive.

In any case, it’s always neat to see oddball designs that challenge our perception of what can and can’t be achieved on a mechanical level. These things don’t always have to make sense from an efficiency standpoint to be fun.

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This Week In Security: Rsync, SSO, And Pentesting Mushrooms

January 17, 2025 by 14 Comments

Up first, go check your machines for the rsync version, and your servers for an exposed rsync instance. While there are some security fixes for clients in release 3.4.0, the buffer overflow in the server-side rsync daemon is the definite standout. The disclosure text includes this bit of nightmare fuel: “an attacker only requires anonymous read access to a rsync server, such as a public mirror, to execute arbitrary code on the machine the server is running on.”

A naive search on Shodan shows a whopping 664,955 results for rsync servers on the Internet. Red Hat’s analysis gives us a bit more information. The checksum length is specified by the remote client, and an invalid length isn’t properly rejected by the server. The effect is that an attacker can write up to 48 bytes into the heap beyond the normal checksum buffer space. The particularly dangerous case is also the default: anonymous access for file retrieval. Red Hat has not identified a mitigation beyond blocking access.

If you run servers or forward ports, it’s time to look at ports 873 and 8873 for anything listening. And since that’s not the only problem fixed, it’s really just time to update to rsync 3.4.0 everywhere you can. While there aren’t any reports of this being exploited in the wild, it seems like attempts are inevitable. As rsync is sometimes used in embedded systems and shipped as part of appliances, this particular bug threatens to have quite the long tail. Continue reading “This Week In Security: Rsync, SSO, And Pentesting Mushrooms” →

Modding A Toddler’s Ride-On For More Grunt

January 17, 2025 by 6 Comments

Kids love their Power Wheels and other ride-on electric cars. Indeed, [Ashwin]’s son was digging his little ATV, but soon found that some care was needed on the pedal. It had no proper throttle control, instead turning the motor hard on or off and scaring the poor kid in the process. The solution? A bit of an upgrade from some off-the-shelf electronics.

Inspiration came from—where else—the /r/PowerWheelsMods subreddit. The main tweak was to install an off-the-shelf soft-start circuit to stop the motor banging hard on when the accelerator was pushed. Instead, when the accelerator is pushed, the module gradually ramps up its PWM output to the motor to smooth out the acceleration curve. This would make the ATV much easier to ride.

Implementing this off-the-shelf solution did take some doing, though. The first attempt ended with a short circuit and a blown fuse. However, [Ashwin] wasn’t deterred—a trip back online to do some research did the trick. With some careful wiring that took into account the crude forward and reverse circuit, [Ashwin] had a much smoother running ride-on for his son.

While most of the mods we see for these little ride-ons are all about power and speed, we do appreciate the occasional attempt to make the things a bit safer for younger drivers. If you’re brewing up your own fancy kidmobile at home—don’t hesitate to let us know!

Close up of a Sony FX-300 'Jackal' radio

Packing Even More Features Into A Classic Radio

January 17, 2025 by 11 Comments

When it comes to hacking niches, breathing new life into vintage devices is always an exciting challenge. [t0mg]’s recent project exemplifies this with his 1978 Sony FX-300 ‘Jackal’ radio. He’d already upgraded the radio in 2021 and turned it into a feature-packed marvel, but there’s always room for improvement.

[t0mg]’s initial 2021 build had its quirks: noisy sound, a subpar display, and a non-functional radio module. Determined to enhance these aspects, he sourced an IPS version of the original 3.2″ ILI9431 LCD, significantly improving viewing angles. To tackle the audio issues, he integrated an M5Stack Atom microcontroller, utilizing its Bluetooth A2DP capabilities to deliver cleaner digital sound via I2S to the Teensy audio board. The Teensy itself got a complete wire overhaul just for the sake of good craftmanship.

The new setup also enabled the display of song metadata. Additionally, [t0mg] incorporated a dedicated Arduino Nano clone to manage inputs, streamlining the overall design. The revamped ‘Jackal’ now boasts a bunch of impressive features such as displaying RDS data for FM stations, voice recording, and an NFC reader for personalized playlists.

If you’re into radio makeovers, look into this post for a real golden oldie, or start out with the basics. For [t0mg]’s earlier improved version of this Jackal, read our article on it here.

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