Aaron Beckendorf – Page 9 – WindowsTechs.com

SSH over USB on a Raspberry Pi

Posted on January 25, 2026 by Aaron Beckendorf

The edge of a laptop is shown with a USB cable plugged into it. the other end of the cable is plugged into a Raspberry Pi Zero.

Setting up access to a headless Raspberry Pi is one of those tasks that should take a few minutes, but for some reason always seems to take much longer. The …read more Continue reading SSH over USB on a Raspberry Pi→

Tamper Detection with Time-Domain Reflectometry

Posted on January 25, 2026 by Aaron Beckendorf

A pair of printed circuit boards are shown against a pink background. The right circuit board is plugged into a USB cable, and has several LED indicators on. The left board is plugged into the other at 45-degree angle, and has no visible components.

For certain high-security devices, such as card readers, ATMs, and hardware security modules, normal physical security isn’t enough – they need to wipe out their sensitive data if someone starts …read more Continue reading Tamper Detection with Time-Domain Reflectometry→

Self-Powered Top Spins for Hours

Posted on January 21, 2026 by Aaron Beckendorf

An aluminium top is shown spinning on a plastic disk in front of a tablet showing the text "2:07:49.5"

The meaning of Inception’s ending famously revolves around a top which spins forever in dreams, but in real life comes to a stop like any other top. Any other top, …read more Continue reading Self-Powered Top Spins for Hours→

Accurately Aiming Audio with an Ultrasonic Array

Posted on January 18, 2026 by Aaron Beckendorf

A device rather resembling a megaphone is lying on a table. The handle is made of black plastic. The horn is made of grey plastic, is hexagonal, and is not tapered. At the back of the horn is an array of silver ultrasonic transducers.

When [Electron Impressions] used a powerful ultrasonic array to project a narrow beam of sound toward a target, he described it as potentially useful in getting someone’s attention from across …read more Continue reading Accurately Aiming Audio with an Ultrasonic Array→

Is the Theory of Special Relativity Wrong?

Posted on January 16, 2026 by Aaron Beckendorf

A red-and-blue image of a nebula is shown, shaped somewhat like an eye, with a plume of gas emitting from the center.

There’s an adage coined by [Ian Betteridge] that any headline ending in a question mark can be answered by the word “No”. However, Lorentz invariance – the theory that the …read more Continue reading Is the Theory of Special Relativity Wrong?→

Taking a Look at Variable Vacuum Capacitors

Posted on January 12, 2026 by Aaron Beckendorf

A pair of glass vacuum tubes can be seen on a workbench, each with complex copper structures inside. One is mounted on top of a metal chassis with a motor and some other circuitry visible.

Variable capacitors may be useful, but the air gap that provides their capacitance is their greatest weakness. Rather than deal with the poor dielectric properties of air, some high-end variable …read more Continue reading Taking a Look at Variable Vacuum Capacitors→

A New Kind of Inductively-damped Compass

Posted on January 11, 2026 by Aaron Beckendorf

A man is shown standing in a wooded area, in front of a stone wall, facing toward the camera. To the left of him, on a rock, are a selection of compasses. Further to the left, another scene is shown, of two compasses. One has a brass-colored metal ring around it, and a timer above it reads 00:04:19. A timer above the other reads 01:47:02.

At some point during our primary school careers, most of us probably constructed a simple compass, often by floating a magnetized needle on a cork in a cup of water. …read more Continue reading A New Kind of Inductively-damped Compass→

Simplifying the SmartKnob

Posted on January 10, 2026 by Aaron Beckendorf

A man's hands are shown holding a black device. A white knob is in the center of the device, and above the knob in a central protrusion from the rest of the device is a small, circular LCD device.

A knob can make a surprisingly versatile interface, particularly if it’s the SmartKnob, which builds a knob around a BLDC motor for programmable haptic response. It can rotate freely or …read more Continue reading Simplifying the SmartKnob→

Testing Laughing Gas for Rocket Propellant

Posted on January 7, 2026 by Aaron Beckendorf

A man's gloved hand is need adjusting the valve on a cylinder, from which a clear plastic tube extends. The man's other hand is seen holding the the other end of the tube in front of a dish of burning wax, which is flaring brightly.

Nitrous oxide’s high-speed abilities don’t end with racing cars, as it’s a powerful enough oxidizer to be a practical component of rocket propellant. Since [Markus Bindhammer] is building a hybrid …read more Continue reading Testing Laughing Gas for Rocket Propellant→

Tying up Loose Ends on a Rope-based Robot Actuator

Posted on January 6, 2026 by Aaron Beckendorf

A round, 3D-printed motor housing is shown, with one flattened side holding a fan mount. A circular plate is mounted above the face of the housing, and a cord runs around it and pulleys on the side of the housing.

One of the perennial challenges of building robots is minimizing the size and weight of drive systems while preserving power. One established way to do this, at least on robots …read more Continue reading Tying up Loose Ends on a Rope-based Robot Actuator→