Put More Korry In Your Flight Sim Switches

May 3, 2024 by 20 Comments

Never underestimate how far some flight simulator aficionados will go with their builds. No detail is too small, and every aspect of the look and feel has to accurately reflect the real cockpit. As a case in point, check out these very realistic Korry buttons that [Santi Luib III] built for an Airbus A320 simulator.

Now, you might never have heard of a “Korry button” before, but chances are you’ve seen them, at least in photos of commercial or military aircraft cockpits. Korry is a manufacturer of switches and annunciators for the avionics industry, and the name has become shorthand for similar switches. They’ve got a very particular look and feel and are built to extremely high standards, as one hopes that anything going into a plane would be. That makes the real switches very expensive, far more so than even the most dedicated homebrew sim builder would be comfortable with.

That’s where [Santi] comes in. His replica Korry buttons are built from off-the-shelf parts like LEDs and switches mounted to custom PCBs. The PCB was designed for either momentary or latching switches, and can support multiple LEDs in different colors. The assembled PCBs snap into 3D printed enclosures with dividers to keep light from bleeding through from one legend to the other.

The lenses are laser-cut translucent acrylic painted with urethane paint before the legends are engraved with a laser. The attention to detail on the labels is impressive. [Santi]’s process, which includes multiple coats of sealers, gets them looking just right. Even the LEDs are carefully selected: blue LEDs are too bright and aren’t quite the proper shade, so [Santi] uses white LEDs that are dimmed down with a bigger resistor and a light blue photographic gel to get the tint just right.

These buttons are just beautiful, and seeing a panel full of them with the proper back-lighting must be pretty thrilling. If civil aviation isn’t your thing, check out this A-10 “Warthog” cockpit sim, and the cool switches needed to make it just right.

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This Week In Security: Default Passwords, Lock Slapping, And Mastodown

May 3, 2024 by 8 Comments

The UK has the answer to all our IoT problems: banning bad default passwords. Additionally, the new UK law requires device makers to provide contact info for vulnerability disclosures, as well as a requirement to advertise vulnerability fix schedules. Is this going to help the security of routers, cameras, and other devices? Maybe a bit.

I would argue that default passwords are in themselves the problem, and complexity requirements only nominally help security. Why? Because a good default password becomes worthless once the password, or algorithm leaks. Let’s lay out some scenarios here. First is the static default password. Manufacturer X makes device Y, and sets the devices to username/password admin/new_Complex_P@ssword1!. Those credentials make it onto a default password list, and any extra security is lost.

What about those devices that have a different, random-looking password for each device? Those use an algorithm to derive that password from the MAC address and/or serial number. That may help the situation, but the algorithm can be retrieved from the firmware, and most serial numbers are predictable in one way or another. This approach is better, but not a silver bullet.

So what would a real solution to the password problem look like? How about no default password at all, but no device functionality until the new password passes a cracklib complexity and uniqueness check. I have seen a few devices that do exactly this. The requirement for a disclosure address is a great idea, which we’ve talked about before regarding the similar EU legislation.

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The ROG Ally with the second screen mod installed

Dual-Screen Mod For The ROG Ally Handheld

May 3, 2024 by 10 Comments

In our continuing coverage of the ROG Ally modding community, we would be amiss to not mention a seriously impressive mod — a dual screen project for the x86 gaming handheld by [YesItsKira]! Single screen devices can feel cramped, and this mod is a prime example of a dedicated hacker taking things into her own hands. In particular, the mechanics of this mod are done wonderfully, thanks to a custom-designed 3D printed Ally back cover.

The second screen connects through a USB-C port, held above the main screen by a sturdy printed hinge at whatever angle you want it. As a pleasant surprise, it’s also touch-enabled! The mod is fully open source and well documented — everything you need to print is published on Thingiverse, a detailed assembly guide with pictures is on GitHub, and the BOM is at the bottom of the guide.

Apart from printed parts, you only need a few things off Amazon, it’s that easy to source. Electronics-wise, this mod uses a Raspberry Pi-suited HDMI screen, wiring it up through an integrated USB-C dock; which means you can still charge your handheld while using the dual-screen solution!

Interested in modifications for your ROG Ally, but not quite ready to bolt on a second display? Check out this phenomenally documented battery upgrade from an iFixit staffer that we recently covered.

MUDLink Is Making UART Data Links More Reliable

May 3, 2024 by 20 Comments

Many of us have used UARTs to spit data from one system or chip to another. Normally, for quick and dirty maker projects, this is good enough. However, you’ll always get the odd dropped transmission or glitch that can throw a spanner in the works if you’re not careful. [Jake Read] decided to work on a system that could use UARTs while being far more reliable. Enter MUDLink.

MUDLink is a library that works with an Arduino’s UART port and stacks on a bit of protocol to clean things up. It uses a packetized method of sending data to ensure that transmissions are received reliably as intended by the sender. Packets are framed using a method called Consistent Overhead Byte Stuffing, which is a nice lightweight way of doing so. The system also uses CRC16-CCITT as an error checking mechanism. There’s also an ack-and-retransmit system for ensuring any dropped transmissions are repeated and received successfully.

If you need reliable UART transmissions without too much overhead, you might want to look at what Jake is doing. It’s a topic we’ve looked at before, too.

Screenshot of the YouTube channel videos list, showing a number of videos like the ones described in this article.

[DiyOtaku] Gives Old Devices A New Life

May 2, 2024 by 5 Comments

Sometimes we get sent a tip that isn’t just a single article or video, but an entire blog or YouTube channel. Today’s channel, [Diy Otaku], is absolutely worth a watch if you want someone see giving a second life to legendary handheld devices, and our creator has been going at it for a while. A common theme in most of the videos so far – taking an old phone or a weathered gaming console, and improving upon them in a meaningful way, whether it’s lovingly restoring them, turning them into a gaming console for your off days, upgrading the battery, or repairing a common fault.

The hacks here are as detailed as they are respectful to the technology they work on. The recent video about putting a laptop touchpad into a game controller, for instance, has the creator caringly replace the controller’s epoxy blob heart with a Pro Micro while preserving the original board for all its graphite-covered pads. The touchpad is the same used in an earlier video to restore a GPD Micro PC with a broken touchpad, a device that you can see our hacker use in a later video running FreeCAD, helping them design a 18650 battery shell for a PSP about to receive a 6000 mAh battery upgrade.

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Don’t Object To Python Objects

May 2, 2024 by 24 Comments

There’s the old joke about 10 kinds of programmers, but the truth is when it comes to programming, there are often people who make tools and people who use tools. The Arduino system is a good example of this. Most people use it like a C compiler. However, it really uses C++, and if you want to provide “things” to the tool users, you need to create objects. For example, when you put Serial in a program, you use an object someone else wrote. Python — and things like Micropython — have the same kind of division. Python started as a scripting language, but it has added object features, allowing a rich set of tools for scripters to use. [Damilola Oladele] shows the ins and outs of object-oriented Python in a recent post.

Like other languages, Python allows you to organize functions and data into classes and then create instances that belong to that class. Class hierarchies are handy for reusing code, customizing behavior, and — through polymorphism — building device driver-like architectures.

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Start Your Creepy Jack-O-Lantern Project Early This Year With Gourdan

May 2, 2024 by 1 Comment

For a lot of us, projects take time, and they have to be squeezed in around the regular chores of real life. Thus, if you’re starting your Halloween builds after the holiday displays have already hit the stores, you’re probably too late. We’re here to implore you to start building early this year—and you can take inspiration from a great pumpkin called Gourdan.

Gourdan is the work of [Braden Sunwold]. It’s a pumpkin with a fearsome visage and creepy eyes that follow you around the room. This is achieved thanks to a Raspberry Pi 3 nestled within Gourdan’s gourdy body. Gourdan’s eyes are a pair of 1.54-inch LCDs which display animated eyes. Thus, no mechanical wizardry is required here—it’s all done digitally. A camera attached to the Raspberry Pi tracks people with the aid of OpenCV, and the eyes are created and animated with the help of Adafruit example code.

There’s never a better time to start hacking for Halloween than right now. And hey, who knows—your neighbour might have kicked off in January, so they’ll have an almighty head start. They could have something really impressive in the works!

And don’t forget—you can always send us your holiday hacks, whatever the time of year! Just hit up the tipsline. Happy making!