Category: Electrical Engineering
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Manufacturing an Atari Gamepad, Part 1
If you’ve played the 2600, you probably thought it was the greatest thing in the world, but those rose colored glasses likely fell the first time you picked up something even as simple as an original NES controller. The joysticks that come with the Atari have this large rubber boot on the bottom: When you…
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Fixing an Atari 2600 Cartridge
One of my sons are homeschooled, and while he’s a bit young to understand assembly, or building his own computer, or writing his own Atari games — I can start with the fundamentals. What a better system to learn about computers than a game system, and one so simple that the component count is incredibly…
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Arduino as a Clock Source
Quite some time ago, I built a Ben Eater 6502 computer. It was fun but frankly I’m too nervous to do anything cool with it but follow his tutorials. I wanted to take the clock circuit and order a PCB and 3d print a case that allowed me to switch from stepping, astable, bistable, and…
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Powering Up Christmas: A Creeper Clock Makeover
If you aren’t comfortable around electricity, don’t attempt this. Consult a professional. Make sure nothing is plugged in. Doing this may impact the warranty of the device or prevent the resale of the device. It feels like the plethora of garbage you can buy on Amazon is just designed to sell more USB power bricks…
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3D Printing a Microphone
A few weeks back, a friend was over for some prison wine. We decided we’d karaoke and have a good time, but I was having an issue finding a microphone. I had casually remarked “Well, I’ll just go 3d Print one”, and he said “There’s no way, right?” and I replied “Of course not!” Challenge…
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How to Read Resistor Color Codes
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Impersonating a Police Officer
I don’t normally admit to felonies online, it generally is ill advised and troublesome. So of course, I’m still not going to. Some time ago, I wrote about how I occasionally go for late night walks. Sometimes it is to be healthy, other times it is to run to the store and not drive. One…
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Unmasking Sneaky Microcontroller Part 1: Reverse Engineering the Board
Several years ago, I had added accessory lighting to my tractor since I used it to pull a trailer of stuff around my property and to plow a 200′ long driveway after work. Since after work is usually after 5pm, and during winter it’s dark, I wanted to be seen by all of the meth…
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Spying on Chip Communications with Arduino
Recently, I had posted about the faceplate of a safe I had found, got to work, and talked about a method of breaching it. I decided to go a bit further and dump the EEPROM, but the contents of it have (so far) meant nothing to me. I decided it was time to see what…
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Breaching a Digital Safe
OH LOOK BOB IS GOING TO SHOW US HOW TO USE A MAGNET TO MOVE A SAFE LATCH OR BANG ON IT WHILE PULLING TO HOP A SOLENOID. Not today my friends, but that sure sounds fun, and already done. Most nights, I try to get in a walk. That is, when it isn’t Surface…
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De-FAANG: Replacing Echos Part 1
I am not a lawyer or a radio engineer, I can search FCC things and even come up with some convincing understanding of laws, but I don’t have the proper test equipment or background to give this advice, so read it as a fiction novel. Cool, legalese out of the way, I did work for…
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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…