$1 POV Display Goes Round and Round
You don’t need much to do a persistence of vision display. A few LEDs and a processor is all it really takes. [B45i] made a simple PC board with five …read more Continue reading $1 POV Display Goes Round and Round
Author Archives: Al Williams
Retrotechtacular: Programming by Card
The recent Supercon 6 badge, if you haven’t seen it, was an old-fashioned type computer with a blinky light front panel. It was reminiscent of an Altair 8800, a PDP-11, …read more Continue reading Retrotechtacular: Programming by Card
Detecting Radiation for Fun and Profit
It used to be that every well-stocked doomsday bunker had a Geiger counter. These days, you don’t have to have a big tube-based meter. You can inexpensively get a compact …read more Continue reading Detecting Radiation for Fun and Profit
Z80 Gets New OS
If you have a soft spot for a Z80 computer but want a new operating system experience, try Zeal. You can watch a demo of the open-source OS in the …read more Continue reading Z80 Gets New OS
Cheap Scope Troubleshoots Commodore
[Adrian] had a Commodore computer to fix and decided to see how his latest tiny portable scope would work. He paid $57 for the tiny little test instrument although the …read more Continue reading Cheap Scope Troubleshoots Commodore
Smelting Solar Style
If you attended the 2022 Supercon, you might have heard the story about the SMD soldering challenge table nearly catching on fire. A magnifying lamp caught the sun just right …read more Continue reading Smelting Solar Style
Overengineered Fume Extractor, Version 2
We all know the temptation of adding one more feature to your latest project. [Arnov Sharma] didn’t resist the urge. Building on his 3D-printed fume extractor, he developed a new …read more Continue reading Overengineered Fume Extractor, Version 2
Conducting Plastic Can Replace Metal
The University of Chicago has announced they have created a material that behaves like plastic but conducts like metal. They also say they don’t fully understand why it works yet. …read more Continue reading Conducting Plastic Can Replace Metal
Nanoassembly with Water
Water is sometimes known as the universal solvent. But researchers at Harvard want to use water to put things together instead of taking them apart. Really small things. In the …read more Continue reading Nanoassembly with Water
3D Printer Tuning: an Engineering Approach
[MirageC] is a bit of a contrarian. Instead of taking pictures of 3D printed objects that show them in their best light, he takes pictures that show them at their …read more Continue reading 3D Printer Tuning: an Engineering Approach