January Round Up
New Year's resolution - keep making stuff! I did have "keep my workbench tidy", but that was pretty unrealistic...
Welcome to the January 2024 Round Up!
It’s the first edition of the new year! We’ve got a collection of clever hacks, homebrew projects, and deep dives into both retro tech and cutting-edge technology.
We’ve got some great videos to watch, from bit banging WS2812B LEDs, PDM Audio, 3D Mice, ESP32-TVs, FPGAs through to zapping people with electric wristbands.
Now, grab your soldering iron, warm up those 3D printers, and let's get making!
Things To Watch
Bit Banging the WS2812B
We all may have used or come across the WS2812B LEDs. They are really handy and there’s plenty of libraries out there for driving them. But how do you actually drive them? Low Byte Productions takes us on a deep dive and builds a driver from scratch using Bit Banging.
ESP32 No DAC - No problem
There’s no DAC on the ESP32-S3 - so how do we get analog audio out of it? According to atomic14 all you need a simple RC filter and, if you’re willing to play a bit fast and loose, you can just feed the signal straight into an analog amplifier.
ESP32-S3 3D Mouse
It’s quite hard to get hold of mouse sensors - but that doesn’t stop the element14 team - they just take apart an old mouse and turn it into something much more clever and useful.
ESP32-TV Version 3…
If you’ve been following along with the adventures atomic14 has been having with his ESP32-TV board, then you’ll be happy to learn: They've squashed the pesky conflicts between USB2244 and ESP32. And they’ve fixed the nasty charging issue. There’s a bonus as well - keep watching until the end…
Custom FPGA Board Build
Join Psychogenic Technologies as they walk us through crafting a bespoke FPGA board, a must-watch for anyone eager to move beyond standard evaluation modules. This tutorial covers everything from initial circuit design, choosing the right components for USB connections and flash memory, to the nitty-gritty of PCB layout.
Becky Stern Gets Zapped
Becky Stern digs into the guts of the Relief Band, a gadget aimed at combating motion sickness through electrical nerve stimulation. A fascinating examination, right down to oscilloscope waveforms, for the curious maker.
Nubbin Light Mastery
What do you get when you cross a ThinkPad nub mouse with mains electricity? Well, apart from a life filled with danger, you get an interesting way of controlling your lights! Guy Dupont shows us how it’s done.
Things To Read
Bed Occupancy Sensor
It might feel a little gimmicky - having a sensor that can tell if you’re in bed or not. But it turns out it’s surprisingly useful and there are all sorts of home automation that can be triggered or prevented once you know someone is in bed. It’s a great step by step guide on building the sensor and getting it hooked up.
Sapphire and Silicon
This article takes up back to 1977 and looks at a transparent chip from Hewlett-Packard's vintage floppy drive. The PHI chip, a testament to early silicon-on-sapphire techniques, served as a bridge between HP's interface bus and the Z80 processor.
Set Your Robot Vacuum Free!
Do you really want your robot vacuum cleaner to be “cloud enabled”? Here’s a local-only open-source software that grants you full command of your automated cleaning buddy.
Dim Those Blue LEDs
We’ve all been there - you’re trying to have a nice nap on the sofa and there’s a blinding blue standby light shining right into your eyes… This clever hack uses a red chocolate wrapper as a filter to tone down the glare without affecting your remote's infrared signals. Enjoy your sweets and get some sleep!
Code In Film
Ever wonder if the code in "Jurassic Park" really could take down a security system, or if "Airwolf" involved genuine programming? This site breaks down these on-screen coding moments, providing insight into what's Hollywood magic versus authentic code.
Lego Mechanical Computer
What’s this? A computer without any electronics? That’s right - it’s a mechanical computer - and it’s made out of lego. Admittedly - calling this a computer is stretching things quite far, it’s only got 2-bits. But it does have memory, control and a program.
Bendix Central Air Data Computer
Staying on the subject of mechanical computers - here’s a look at one of the components of the Bendix Central Air Data Computer. It’s an electromechanical analog computer that uses gears and cams for its mathematics.
Mystery Touchscreen
What do you do when you find a mysterious touchscreen device in your apartment? You do what this maker did and reverse engineer and eventually hack into the server and bring it back into life.
Closing Thoughts
I thought that January would be a bit quiet. Isn’t everyone supposed to be recovering from the excesses of the holiday season? I think you’ll agree this month’s round up has proved me well and truly wrong. It’s another bumper edition!
Thank you for letting us be a part of your maker journey. Until next month, keep creating, experimenting, and redefining the possible. Here's to another month of projects, discoveries, and maker magic!