Collaborate Disseminate
We all know that it’s easy to get caught out by fake electronic components these days, with everything from microcontrollers to specialized ASICs being fair game. More recently, retro components …read more Continue reading The Scourge of Fake Retro Unijunction Transistors
During the 1980s a lot of consumer devices suddenly got a lot smaller as large-scale integration using semiconductor technology took off. This included radios, with Philips’ TDA7000 FM radio receiver …read more Continue reading Reverse-Engineering the TDA7000 FM Radio Receiver IC
We have all seen those cheap digital microscopes, whether in USB format or with its own screen, all of them promising super-clear images of everything from butterfly wings to electronics …read more Continue reading Why Cheap Digital Microscopes are Pretty Terrible
Before the era of large-scale integration (LSI) semiconductor circuits, discrete logic circuits using the common diode-transistor logic (DTL) were still necessary and available in a format that was modular and …read more Continue reading Exploring VersaLOGIC pre-LSI Logic Cards With the Data/620
When Raspberry Pi’s new RP2350 MCU was released in 2024, it had a slight issue in that its GPIO pins would leak a significant amount of current when a pin …read more Continue reading Raspberry Pi RP2350 A4 Stepping Addresses E9 Current Leakage Bug
With us chafing at time zones and daylight saving time (DST) these days, it can be easy to forget how much more confusing things were in the late 19th century. …read more Continue reading Railway Time: Why France’s Railways Ran Five Minutes Behind
The good part about FDM 3D printing is that there are so many different filament types and parameters to choose from. This is also the bad part, as it can …read more Continue reading Destructive Testing of ABS and Carbon Fiber Nylon Parts
Although often glossed over, the human liver is a pretty amazing organ. Not just because it’s pretty much the sole thing that prevents our food from killing us, but also …read more Continue reading Be More Axolotl: How Humans May One Day Regrow Limbs and Organs
After more than forty years, everyone knows that it’s time to retire the X Window System – X11 for short – on account of it being old and decrepit. Or …read more Continue reading Wayland Will Never Be Ready For Every X11 User
The switch from analog telephone exchanges to a purely digital network meant a revolution in just about any way imaginable. Gone were the bulky physical switches and associated system limitations. …read more Continue reading When the UK’s Telephone Network Went Digital With System X