Author: rlerner

  • Little Man Computer – Architecture

    Little Man Computer – Architecture

    Around a year ago, I built and threw a Little Man Computer (“LMC”) simulator, assembler, and a really crappy disassembler and put them up on GitHub. There’s another version in C++ up there as well, but it isn’t as fully built out or stable. “Computer Science” in my high school days consisted of keyboarding and…

  • More Locks = More Security?

    More Locks = More Security?

    This morning, I went for a walk and came upon this rather formidable cell tower enclosure. Usually these things are behind a chain link fence — this one is behind a block wall and has a stout gate. After the 2022 substation attack, I can appreciate seeing stronger protection to critical infrastructure. In this case,…

  • Ford Bronco EV Solar Mod

    Ford Bronco EV Solar Mod

    Hi owners of Ford Broncos! This is for the kids ride-on bronco. Sorry! Last Christmas, Santa brought my children something I always wanted — a ride on car! (People call these Power Wheels, but it isn’t a Power Wheels). Around the same time, I was into 3D Printing, and had designed an entire hitch system…

  • Why I won’t buy the 2032 Dodge RAM

    Why I won’t buy the 2032 Dodge RAM

    It might seem weird to talk about a truck that’s nearly a decade away. But here’s my history with Dodge RAM: (I know some of you drop the word “Dodge”, but no) My 2002 Dodge Ram 1500 My 2012 Ram 1500 Big Horn, looking squatted with that fat trailer My 2022 Ram 2500 Tradesman So,…

  • A Story: Vending Machine Business

    A Story: Vending Machine Business

    This is a long-winded story of failure. I’m hoping to share some misconceptions I had about starting a business as well as “analysis paralysis”. Back in October of 2018, I was doing what I do best: Trolling Facebook Garage Sale sites. Some of my better items for sale were: But, I came across a post…

  • Verizon Wireless: Bait and Switch

    Verizon Wireless: Bait and Switch

    This one isn’t a security blog. If you want deep, technical reading this one isn’t it. A Year Ago… I was at the park with my son when he fell and got hurt, I called my wife to come and pick us up as that was much faster than walking his bike home. As we…

  • Restoring Old Disks

    Restoring Old Disks

    The first line of code I wrote was back in 1992, 31 years ago. That must make me an old man, and perhaps I am, but back then I was only seven — and my first program I wrote? I used QBASIC to output ASCII Art (it was just called “Graphics” back then) to output…

  • Kroger: A Case Study in Security Theater

    Kroger: A Case Study in Security Theater

    Security Theater, simply put, is what you see when you go to the airport, or a court house, or perhaps even your local gas station. A well designed and functional security system should be seen, not used. I would, 100 times over, rather somebody who wants to do me harm, see my security cameras and…

  • I’ve Built a Computer

    I’ve Built a Computer

    Here’s when it was more “in progress” Perhaps evident from this picture, that the 16K of RAM in the top right is still not connected. This means it’s still barely a computer, since input doesn’t matter to it, the output is clearly screwed up, and it can’t operate on anything larger than the registers of…

  • I’m Building a Computer

    I’m Building a Computer

    Wayyy back in the day, my parents had gotten me a computer kit for Christmas. I had meticulously assembled it, all of the headers for power / reset buttons and LEDs, the PC Speaker, everything, were ran along the underside of the motherboard and taped down., the power cables were tie-wrapped to the right size.…

  • Alarm System Part 5: How to Hack a Home Security System

    Alarm System Part 5: How to Hack a Home Security System

    This Blog is part of a Series! Check out the rest if you haven’t already: You read that title. Not “What parts did I order and what struggles did I have” No. “How to hack”, which means we’re damned successful at it, But not so fast. Last I reported, the alarm on a board was…

  • Alarm System Part 4: The Keypad

    Alarm System Part 4: The Keypad

    This Blog is part of a Series! Check out the rest if you haven’t already: At this point, I’ve dumped the EEPROM off the panel, and discovered that there can be some data stored in the PIC Microcontroller on the panel as well. The datasheet for that is >300 pages, so I’m not planning on…