A Tale of Two Pulse Modulators
In the realm of test equipment, there are a number of items that you don’t know you need until you need one. That’s probably the case with the HP11720A pulse …read more Continue reading A Tale of Two Pulse Modulators
Author Archives: Al Williams
A Literate Assembly Language
A recent edition of [Babbage’s] The Chip Letter discusses the obscurity of assembly language. He points out, and I think correctly, that assembly language is more often read than written, …read more Continue reading A Literate Assembly Language
The Bicycle (and More) Explained
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but an animation, then, must be worth a million. Make that animation interactive, and… well, we don’t know how many words …read more Continue reading The Bicycle (and More) Explained
DIY Metal Detector
If you want to get rich by hunting with a metal detector, you might want to consider how much you invested in the hardware to start with. Finding a tin …read more Continue reading DIY Metal Detector
Linux Fu: Supercharge Bash History
Having a history of shell commands is a great idea. It is, of course, enormously handy when you have to run something repetitively or you make a simple mistake that …read more Continue reading Linux Fu: Supercharge Bash History
Linux Cell Phone? Build OURPhone
[Evan] couldn’t find a phone he liked, so he decided to build his own. There are advantages and disadvantages, as you might expect. On the plus side, you have the …read more Continue reading Linux Cell Phone? Build OURPhone
Hacking Hue Lightbulbs
What do you do with a Hue smart lightbulb? Well, if you are [Chris Greening], you take it apart and get hacking. If you ever wondered what’s inside, the teardown …read more Continue reading Hacking Hue Lightbulbs
Rising to the Occasion: A Brief History of Crewed High Altitude Balloons
We think of human flight as a relatively modern affair, with a few claims to the first airplane all around the turn of the last century. But people flew much …read more Continue reading Rising to the Occasion: A Brief History of Crewed High Altitude Balloons
Parametric Design with Tinkercad
Tinkercad is like the hamburger helper of 3D design. You hate to admit you use it, and you know you should put in more effort, but — darn it — …read more Continue reading Parametric Design with Tinkercad
$60 Robot Arm is Compact
Thanks to 3D printing and inexpensive controllers, a robot arm doesn’t need to break the bank anymore. Case in point? [Build Some Stuff] did a good-looking compact arm with servos …read more Continue reading $60 Robot Arm is Compact