February 2023
It's the shortest month of year - but we've still got a bumper edition for you. There's a couple of fascinating videos to watch and we've been scouring the internet digging up some great articles.
Things To Watch
Travel Back In Time With Clem
Over on element14 Clems has been doing a bit of retro gaming and revisiting one of his favourites from 1998 - Seven Kingdoms. He likes it so much, he’s made himself an arcade machine to play it.
Unexpectedly Automated
Seon is on a mission to replace himself with robots. I’m sure more than a few readers own some kind of UnexpctedMaker board - if you’ve ever wondered how they are assembled then this video is a must.
Atomic14 Has The Power - Or does he?
Channelling his inner He-Man, atomic14 is taking a look at power - specifically, how much power he can get from his DIY power bank.
Blast from the Past
This popped up on my YouTube feed and it was a fascinating watch - not just for the haircuts and 70’s fashion - the model-making and attention to detail are amazing.
747 Easter Egg
The last 747 rolled off the production line recently and whoever set up the flight plan left us a nice little egg.
Things To Read
Where are all the C++ Developers?
Where are all the C++ developers? They are busy building projects with their embedded devices! Looks like the finance guys are getting upset about it…
Which ESP Chip Should You Use?
It used to be simple. You had the ESP8266 or the ESP32, but recently there’s been a proliferation of ESP32’s which one should you use and when?
AVR Coding 101
Brandan Lane has put together a complete course on how to code for the AVR - he’s also put together a nice bit of hardware to practice on. Really good stuff.
Reverse engineering an ePaper
This is a deep dive into reverse engineering hardware and the firmware that it runs. Fascinating and details stuff.
Animated Mechanical Engineering
There’s so much stuff here that I just linked to the archive page for you to browse for yourself. The animations are amazing.
Spectrum Analyser With Steampunk Nixie Look
Our very own Mark Donners (aka The Electronic Engineer is one of the winners of the 5th PCB Design Contest. Check out his Spectrum Analyser project.
How semiconductors work and are manufactured
SiliWiz will help you get a basic understanding of how semiconductors work and are manufactured at a fundamental level. Semiconductors are the most important technology of the 21st century but only a tiny fraction of us know how they work or are designed and made.
Macropad clone with integrated audio hardware
The Adafruit Macropad is pretty cool on its own - but even cooler with hacked-on sound output and a midi-in plug. Dave has designed a low-cost clone that integrates somebody else's awesome hacks.
Closing Thoughts
As always, thanks for taking the time to read the newsletter - if you’ve got any feedback then don’t hesitate to get in touch in the comments. Please share the newsletter with your friends and let them know how great it is!