Why Should You Enter The Hackaday Prize? Because [Ben Heck] Says So.

August 15, 2014 by 25 Comments

[Ben Heck] is well-known in the circles we frequent for being a consummate modder, tinkerer, builder, and hacker. We’ve seen his XBox 360 laptops, portabalized PS3s, the ultimate glue gun, and shutter shades that are too cool for [Kanye]. Now he’s telling us about something else that’s really cool – The Hackaday Prize.

All you need to be in the running for prizes that range from a thousand dollars in electronic components to milling machines to a trip to space is build a project that is open, connected (smoke signals count), and documented on hackaday.io. Think you don’t have time to submit an entry before the first round cutoff next week? You’re wrong. You can sit down and hit all the requirements in an hour. All you need is an idea at this point, and you have until November to actually build it.

Talking to Hackaday readers IRL gives us the impression that a lot of you have an idea for something cool and spaceworthy, but you just need a kick in the pants to write it down and start building it. Here it is. Go.

Pivena – The Open Source Raspberry Pi Case

August 15, 2014 by 13 Comments

Raspberry Pi Laptop

Still not too sure how to house your awesome Raspberry Pi B model? Don’t worry, [Timothy Giles] has got you covered! He’s just finished this very sleek open source PIvena case for anyone to use.

Why is it called the PIvena? He’s basing it off of [Bunnie’s] Novena project which is a hobby-based open source laptop! For more information you can checkout the recent interview we had with [Bunnie] himself!

Anyway, back to the hack — it features a laser cut case which has plenty of room for the Pi and any additional hardware you want to add. Like the Novena, the screen also functions as a lid, opening up to reveal the electronics, allowing for easy tinkering. All the files can be acquired over at Thingiverse, and he has assembly instructions available on Instructables. Continue reading “Pivena – The Open Source Raspberry Pi Case” →

sketch of f117 fighter flying

Ask Hackaday: How Did They Shoot Down A Stealth Aircraft?

August 15, 2014 by 207 Comments

It was supposed to be a routine mission for U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Darrell P. Zelko, a veteran pilot of the 1991 Gulf War. The weather over the capital city of Serbia was stormy on the night of March 27th, 1999, and only a few NATO planes were in the sky to enforce Operation Allied Force. Zelco was to drop 2 laser guided munitions and get back to his base in Italy.

There was no way for him to know that at exactly 8:15pm local time, a young Colonel of the Army of Yugoslavia had done what was thought to be impossible. His men had seen Zelco’s unseeable F117 Stealth Fighter.

Seconds later, a barrage of Soviet 60’s era S-125 surface-to-air missiles were screaming toward him at three times the speed of sound. One hit. Colonel Zelco was forced to eject while his advanced stealth aircraft fell to the ground in a ball of fire. It was the first and only time an F117 had been shot down. He would be rescued a few hours later.

How did they do it? How could a relatively unsophisticated army using outdated soviet technology take down one of the most advanced war planes in the world? A plane that was supposed be invisible to enemy radar? As you can imagine, there are several theories. We’re going deep with the “what-ifs” on this one so join us after the break as we break down and explore them in detail.

Continue reading “Ask Hackaday: How Did They Shoot Down A Stealth Aircraft?” →

Astronaut Or Astronot: Somebody Won Something!

August 15, 2014 by 6 Comments

It’s time once again for our weekly installment of people complaining about our community voting system for The Hackaday Prize! The theme this week – as it was last week – is ‘too cool for Kickstarter’. We’re looking for projects that are so awesome they would never see any mainstream appeal. If you’re still wondering what we mean by that, if this amazing project doesn’t make the top ten in this round of voting, I’ll be terribly disappointed.

Just like last week, we’re trying to give away a goodie bag of programmers, dev boards, and essential bench tools (prize list here) to someone on hackaday.io who has voted for a project that is too cool for Kickstarter.

This week one of you got lucky. Because [Eric] is such a good sport and was kind enough to click a few buttons during this round of community voting, we’re sending him a boat load of dev boards, all the programmers he’ll ever need, a meter that will last him for the rest of his life, and a pretty good power supply. Awesome. Now go congratulate him.

There’s only five days left until the cutoff, so get your project into The Hackaday Prize. At this stage the requirements are extremely minimal, and you can knock everything out in a few hours.

Hacking VGA For Trippy Video Effects

August 15, 2014 by 9 Comments

RGB.VGA.VOLT

Ever since flat panel LCD monitors came on the scene, most old CRTs have found their ways into the garbage or into the backs of closets. For this project, it might be a good idea to pull out the old monitor or TV out and dust it off! [James] has found a way to hack the VGA input to these devices to get them to display vivid visualizations based on an audio input.

The legacy hardware-based project is called RGB.VGA.VOLT and works by taking an audio signal as an input, crossing some wires, and sending the signal through a synthesizer. The circuit then creates a high-frequency waveform that works especially well for being displayed on VGA. The video can also be channeled back through an audio waveform generator to create a unique sound to go along with the brilliant colors.

[James]’s goals with this project are to generate an aesthetic feeling with his form of art and to encourage others to build upon his work. To that end, he has released the project under an open license, and the project is thoroughly documented on his project site.

There have been plenty of hacks in the past that have implemented other protocols with VGA or implemented VGA on microcontrollers, but none that have hacked the interface entirely to create something that looks like the Star Gate sequence from 2001: A Space Odyssey. We think it’s a great piece of modern art and a novel use of VGA!

Thanks for the tip, [Kyle]!

[Fran] on setting and regulating pocket watches

Retro Time Tech: [Fran] And Pocket Watches

August 15, 2014 by 16 Comments

Whether you own a pocket watch, want to own one, or just plain think they’re cool, [Fran’s] video on setting and regulating pocket watches provides a comprehensive overview on these beautiful works of mechanical art. After addressing the advantages and disadvantages between stem, lever, and key set watches, [Fran] cracks open her 1928 Illinois to reveal the internals and to demonstrate how to adjust the regulator.

Though she doesn’t dive into a full teardown, there’s plenty of identification and explanation of parts along the way. To slow her watch down a tad, [Fran] needed to turn a very tiny set screw about a quarter of a turn counterclockwise, slowing down the period: an adjustment that requires a fine jewelers screwdriver, a delicate touch, and a lot of patience. Results aren’t immediately discernible, either. It takes a day or two to observe whether the watch now keeps accurate time.

Stick around for the video after the jump, which also includes an in-depth look at a 1904 Elgin watch, its regulator and other key components.

Continue reading “Retro Time Tech: [Fran] And Pocket Watches” →

Sprite Graphics Accelerator On An FPGA

August 15, 2014 by 16 Comments

A demo running on a FPGA sprite accelerator

Graphics accelerators move operations to hardware, where they can be executed much faster. This is what allows your Raspberry Pi to display high definition video decently. [Andy]’s latest build is a 2D sprite engine, featuring hardware accelerated graphics on an FPGA.

In the simplest mode, the sprite engine just passes commands through to the LCD. This allows for basic control. The fun part sprite mode, which allows for sprites to be loaded onto the FPGA. At that point, you can show, hide, and move the sprite. By overlapping many sprites, you something like the demo shown above.

The FPGA is from Xilinx, and uses their Block RAM IP to store the state of the sprites. The actual sprite data is contained on a 128 Mb external flash chip, since they require significant space.

The game logic runs on a STM32 Cortex M4 microcontroller which communicates with the FPGA and orders the sprites around. The FPGA then deals with generating frames and sending them to the LCD screen, freeing up the microcontroller.

If you’re wondering about the LCD itself, it’s 3.2″, 640 x 360, and taken from a Ericsson U5 Vivaz cellphone. [Andy] has a detailed writeup on reverse engineering it. After the break, he gives us a video overview of the whole system.

Continue reading “Sprite Graphics Accelerator On An FPGA” →