Robot Dog in Browser
You’ve doubtlessly seen the current crop of robot dogs and, if you are like us, thought about getting one to play with. The problem is that the cheap ones are …read more Continue reading Robot Dog in Browser
Author Archives: Al Williams
A Brief History of the Crazy Old 7-Segment Display
How old is the seven-segment display? Surely it is a product of the 1970s. After all, calculators started showing up, and the height of junior high humor was plugging 7734 …read more Continue reading A Brief History of the Crazy Old 7-Segment Display
Linux Fu: The Local Phonebook
I’ll admit it: I miss the simplicity of /etc/hosts. There was something elegant about it. You wanted laserprinter to mean 192.168.1.40, so you opened a text file and wrote: 192.168.1.40 …read more Continue reading Linux Fu: The Local Phonebook
He Comes to Bury Segmented Memory, Not to Praise It
[BillPg] has been designing a fantasy 1980s-era home computer. As part of the exercise, he’s reevaluating all the assumptions that have grown organically over time in the small computer landscape. …read more Continue reading He Comes to Bury Segmented Memory, Not to Praise It
Hackaday Podcast Episode 376: Modern Retro Projects, Retro Modern Projects, and the Teen Years for 3D Printing
Hackaday’s Elliot Williams and Al Williams were in a retro mood this week. There was a new ‘486 computer, a new mechanical TV, and a USB stick with a magnetic …read more Continue reading Hackaday Podcast Episode 376: Modern Retro Projects, Retro Modern Projects, and the Teen Years for 3D Printing
The Teenage Angst of 3D Printing: Solidoodle, Printrbot, and Bridges
Bridges are a part of our constructed landscape that we take for granted. And bridges by themselves aren’t especially important. What is important is that bridges let you get from …read more Continue reading The Teenage Angst of 3D Printing: Solidoodle, Printrbot, and Bridges
Linux Fu: Upcycling an Old Router
You’re wandering through a thrift store and spot an old router for ten bucks. Worthless, right? But in this case, it was a Google OnHub, which, at the time, was …read more Continue reading Linux Fu: Upcycling an Old Router
A Brief History of Unix Commands On Windows: CoreUtils (Again)
If you use Windows today and type ls, cat, grep, or awk in a terminal, there is a good chance something useful will happen. That was not always true. For …read more Continue reading A Brief History of Unix Commands On Windows: CoreUtils (Again)
Picking a CRC
You send a file, but how do you know it arrived intact? In other words, how do you know that it didn’t get cut off, garbled, or changed somehow? Simplistically, …read more Continue reading Picking a CRC
The Pacemaker Patch
A pacemaker is implanted to send signals that regulate a patient’s heartbeat, and to do that, you need power. That means they require battery changes, and when the device in …read more Continue reading The Pacemaker Patch