Modern Microcontroller Boosts Classic Logic Analyzer To New Heights

March 19, 2024 by 5 Comments

[Ted Fried] recently found a beautiful HP 1600A/1607A logic analyzer set. State of the art in 1975, it looks like glorious Space Age equipment today. He decided to hook it up some modern gear to put it through its paces.

Wanting to give the equipment a proper shakedown, he enlisted a Teensy 4.1 to spit a deluge of logic at the HP unit. The microcontroller was tasked with generating 32 data signals along with two clock outputs to give the analyzer plenty to analyze. The HP 1600A handled this no problem, so [Ted] kept tinkering.

His next feat was to explore the addressable “MAP” function of the unit, which allowed writing to the 64×64 pixel display. The Teensy 4.1 was easily able to send images to the display, but [Ted] isn’t stopping there. He’s got plans to do the usual thing and get Bad Apple going on the hardware.

Getting a logic analyzer to analyze logic isn’t much of a hack, sure. But it’s instructive of how to approach working with such hardware. If you want to spit a bunch of logic out fast, a Teensy 4.1 is a great choice because it’s got a ton of IO and a ton of clock cycles to tickle it with.

We enjoyed seeing this old piece of hardware light up the phosphors once more. If you’ve got your own projects going on with classic bits of HP test gear, don’t hesitate to let us know!

Faux Silkscreen On A PCB Made With A Laser Cutter

March 18, 2024 by 13 Comments

If you’re getting PCBs professionally made, silkscreen usually comes free as part of the package. However, if you’re making your own, the job is on you. [Tony Goacher] makes his own PCBs on a CNC router, so he’s not getting any silkscreening as part of that bargain. But he wondered—could he do something analogous with a laser cutter?

The answer is yes. The silkscreen layer was first exported from DesignSpark, with the file then sent to LightBurn to prep it for laser cutting. The board outline layer was first engraved on to a piece of scrap as an alignment aid. Then, the board was placed in the laser cutter, with the silkscreen scorched directly on to the fiberglass.

The results are encouraging, if imperfect. [Tony] says he ran at “quite fast speed at quite high power.” The markings are all there, but they’re a little melty and difficult to read. He noted at lower speeds and lower power, the results were a bit more readable.

PCBs aren’t really an ideal engraving or laser marking material, but this technique could be servicable for some basic markings on DIY PCBs. We look forward to seeing how [Tony] improves the process in future. Video after the break.
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Using A Framework Mainboard For A Custom Gaming Handheld

March 18, 2024 by 7 Comments
The nearly final prototype case for the handheld Framework-based gaming system. (Credit: TommyB, YouTube)
The nearly final prototype case for the handheld Framework-based gaming system. (Credit: TommyB, YouTube)

Building your own handheld gaming console has been a popular project for many years, but recently it has become significantly easier to get a lot of power into a small package. Like many others, [TommyB] made his own Raspberry Pi SBC-based handheld in the past, which results in a rather bulky and underpowered package. A more performant solution would be to stuff laptop guts into a handheld case, but until Framework came onto the scene this wasn’t easy and would get you a sloppy one-off solution. With [TommyB]’s current handheld project he uses a standard Framework laptop mainboard, along with the official battery to get a very capable gaming system.

Getting the ergonomics and fit for the components just right took many tries, but eventually a prototype shell was designed that fits the Framework mainboard, the battery, twin Framework speakers, an 8″ LCD panel from Waveshare (connected via USB-C to HDMI) and mechanical switches for the buttons. These switches connect to an RP2040-based board that runs the GP2040-CE firmware, allowing the operating system to detect it as an XBox controller. Although still far from finished, it shows just how beneficial standard laptop parts are, with a massive gap in the market where Framework could make its own handheld shell available. We’re looking forward to [TommyB] demonstrating the finished version of his Framework handheld, and the inevitable upgrade from the 11th-gen Intel mainboard to one of the sparkling new mainboards with even better specs.

Thanks to [Keith Olson] for the tip.

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Thrift Store CD Rack Turns Into Small Parts Storage Playground

March 17, 2024 by 15 Comments

What in the world could an accessory for an obsolete audio medium possibly have to do with keeping all your unruly bits and pieces in order? First of all, we’re not sure the CD is quite dead yet; we’ve got about a thousand of them packed away somewhere, and we’re pretty sure they’ll be back in style again one of these days. Until then, though, the lowly CD rack might be just what you need to get your shop under control.

As [Chris Borge] relates the story, he stumbled over this CD rack at a thrift sale and quickly realized its potential. All it took was some quick design work and a bit of 3D printing. Okay, a lot of 3D printing, including some large, flat expanses for the drawer bottoms, which can be a problem to print reliably. His solution was simple but clever: pause the print and insert a piece of stiff card stock to act as the drawer bottom before continuing to print the sides. This worked well but presented an adhesion problem later when he tried to print some drawer dividers, so those were printed as a separate job and inserted later.

Sadly, [Chris] notes that the CD format is not quite Gridfinity compatible, but that’s not a deal breaker. He also doesn’t provide any build files, but none are really necessary. Once you’ve got the basic footprint, what you do with your drawers is largely dependent on what you’ve got to store. The video below has a lot of ideas for what’s possible, but honestly, we’re looking at all those little parts assortment kits from Bojack and Hilitchi piled up in a drawer and just dreaming about the possibilities here. Add a voice-activated, LED inventory locator, and you’d really have something. Off to the thrift store!

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Hackaday Links: March 17, 2024

March 17, 2024 by 16 Comments

A friend of ours once described computers as “high-speed idiots.” It was true in the 80s, and it appears that even with the recent explosion in AI, all computers have managed to do is become faster. Proof of that can be found in a story about using ASCII art to trick a chatbot into giving away the store. As anyone who has played with ChatGPT or its moral equivalent for more than five minutes has learned, there are certain boundary conditions that the LLM’s creators lawyers have put in place to prevent discussion surrounding sensitive topics. Ask a chatbot to deliver specific instructions on building a nuclear bomb, for instance, and you’ll be rebuffed. Same with asking for help counterfeiting currency, and wisely so. But, by minimally obfuscating your question by rendering the word “COUNTERFEIT” in ASCII art and asking the chatbot to first decode the word, you can slip the verboten word into a how-to question and get pretty explicit instructions. Yes, you have to give painfully detailed instructions on parsing the ASCII art characters, but that’s a small price to pay for forbidden knowledge that you could easily find out yourself by other means.

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RP2040 Boot Loader Is A Worm

March 17, 2024 by 8 Comments

[Hunter Adams] has written a secondary bootloader for the RP2040 that uses an IR link and can be extended to behave like a polite worm virus. This allows the easy updating of a large cluster of co-located RP2040-based controllers. This could be handy in applications like swarm robotics or virtual cattle fencing. The project he demonstrates in the two videos ( below the break ) uses a pair of IR transmitters/receivers. But he purposely wrote the boot loader to be independent of the serial link, which could be infrared, radio, audio, or just wires.

Not only did [Hunter] make a boot loader, but he documented the entire boot process of the RP2040 chip. Whether or not you need a secondary bootloader, this is an excellent resource for understanding how the RP2040 responds to power cycling and resets. The boot loader code is available at his GitHub repository.

You may recall that [Hunter] is the lecturer of Cornell University’s Designing with Microcontroller classes, whom we’ve mentioned before. We’ve also covered some of his students’ projects as well, like these air drums and this CoreXY pen plotter.

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Simple NTP Clock Uses Custom RGB 7-Segment Displays

March 17, 2024 by 14 Comments

A great majority of hackers build a clock at some point. It’s a great way to get familiar with electronics and (often) microcontrollers, and you get to express some creativity along the way. Plus, you get something useful when you’re done! [Tadas Ustinavičius] recently trod this well-worn path and built a neat little NTP clock of their own.

The build uses an ESP 12F as the core of the operation. It’s charged with querying an NTP time server via its WiFi connection in order to maintain accurate timekeeping around the clock. For display, it drives a series of custom 7-segment displays that [Tadas] built using 3D-printed housings. They use WS2812B addressable LEDs and thus can display a rainbow of colors.

For initial configuration, the phone creates its own WiFi hotspot with a web interface for changing settings. Once configured, it connects to the Internet over WiFi to query an NTP server at regular intervals.

It’s a simple build that does a simple job well. Projects like these can be very valuable, as they teach you all kinds of useful skills. If you’ve been working on your own clock design, don’t hesitate to let us know. You can use a microcontroller, relays, or even a ball.