Tindie

First off, 8BitFlux has just launched a new product: the Binary Keyboard, an 8-switch panel device reminiscent of classic computers like the Altair 8800, PDP-11, and many other amazing vintage machines. You can use it standalone to teach binary, or you can attach it to just about anything to enter in a byte of data at a time. Ones’ complement mode inverts all the bits if needed. An optional add-on can display the current switch settings on an LED display which can show hexadecimal or octal!

Not only that, but the entire 8BitFlux store currently has a sale running! Make sure to check out some of their other super cool projects, like this serial attachment for the Apple I/II that allows you to dump a text file in via the keyboard, as if it had been typed in. There are also other keyboard-related tools, like this ASCII Keyboard tester which shows the actual data coming from an ASCII-format keyboard. Or check out the Super Breadboard, which has built-in power rails and short-circuit protection, plus an obvious way to separate inputs and outputs from the circuit being prototyped.

In any case, take a look at what 8BitFlux has to offer and see if anything catches your eye! With holidays coming up, it’s always good to keep an eye out for interesting things for our hacker friends and family.

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There are plenty of those simple boards floating around that, when you plug a USB-PD power supply into them, will output a fixed voltage (assuming the adapter can deliver that). These are handy, but having to have one for each voltage you use, especially in testing, can be tedious. Instead, the AX-PKT01, an all-in-one, sleek USB-PD power supply allows you to pick from whichever voltages your adapter is capable of outputting. With properly compliant adapters, it will even show the maximum voltage and current as well as continuous rated power!

The device is portable, and uses a standard USB-C receptacle and banana jacks to supply the output voltage. This makes it useful not only on the bench, but having one in your bag for on-site testing or when installing art or robotics can be a life-saver. The OLED display is easy to read, and the 3D-printed case has a nice texture to it. A small rotary encoder wheel allows you to scroll through available options and pick which one you want.

So if you find yourself carrying around a USB-C power supply (or even a USB-C battery pack with Power Delivery!) throwing one of these in your bag with it can turn it from useful to indispensable!

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With the weather cooling off, it’s a reminder that multiple holiday seasons are coming soon! No matter what you celebrate (or even if you just want to give a gift for no reason!) this neat Custom Name Clock is a nice, personalized gift (or self-gift). The only caveat is the name can only be a maximum of five characters.

As someone with a long first name (and someone who isn’t a huge fan of being called Al or Alex) I get the frustration with this. Luckily, I have other names, such as a common username I use – donut! Hopefully you can think of a nickname or even initials that will fit. Just remember to contact the store before placing your order to work out what you want printed!

A really neat feature is the gateway that can optionally be paired with it. This allows synchronizing the clock and automatically updating it for DST, if you have DST in your time zone. With the optional gateway and display you can set the time remotely and be informed of the battery status, while having a second time display that could go on your desk, for example. All components seem very well-made and easy to operate.

Of course, if you wanted to be really silly, your imagination is the limit… I can think of all sorts of hilarious 4/5 letter words that would certainly get people to tell the time!

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If you’re into vintage Macs and spend time repairing them, you know that they tend to have capacitors which leak and cause damage to the PCB. Sometimes the damage is easy to find and repair, but other times it can be tedious, hard work. Well, this series of BlinkHATs for the various PLCC chips in vintage Macs can help you quickly spot signals that are either not connected or stuck in a particular state! From the main CPU – the Motorola 68000 – all the way to the more obscure chips like the Apple ASC or SWIM chips, there’s a BlinkHAT for all the important parts, with 8 different chips covered so far.

The LEDs are colour coded for their particular function – green for system bus signals, blue for control signals or signals dedicated to that particular chip, and red for voltage pins. This can quickly help spot important pins that may have cracked/broken solder joints or socket pins. It can also help you see whether the system is stuck in reset, missing a voltage rail, or if there’s any bus activity at all!

If you have watched videos of people repairing these motherboards, you can quickly see how a simple tool like this could be very useful for fast analysis of chip connections, before pulling out the oscilloscope or other more advanced debugging tools. Once a motherboard has been recapped and cleaned, a power-on test with these BlinkHATs could quickly give you a general idea of the system state. Check them out if you’re into Macintosh computers!

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If you want to put together an inexpensive IoT project, the ESP32 is one of the top choices for microcontroller. With WiFi, Bluetooth, and the option for dual cores, a lot of power is packed into a small chip. Add on an LTE Cat 1 module for long-distance communication, a battery connector and charge management, and USB-C for easy powering and programming, and you’ve got this very nice module from Glow Gun.

An ESP32-S3 packing dual-core Xtensa cores at 240MHz provides the horsepower, and the common ML307R module adds LTE capability for communication with cloud services when out of range of WiFi. Also on board are a microphone and amplifier, with a header to attach a speaker for audio playback, a Neopixel, and a header to attach an OLED display.

Whether you want to record and analyze bat sounds, or simply make a home automation panel that hides behind your bathroom mirror, or even control a remotely operated vehicle of some sort, this module is flexible enough to do just about anything. With wide development environment choices from CircuitPython to Lua to C++ to even the built-in ROM BASIC you’re bound to find a way to complete your project with style!

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Shooting pictures on real film brings back much of the excitement and challenge of photography. When you’ve only got 24 or 30 shots to cover a day out in a new city, you have to think carefully about where and when to press the shutter. However, even if your composition is excellent, you need to carefully meter the light in each scene. Some professional cameras had this feature built in, but most photographers would carry their own light meters. This sleek little light meter with its metallic buttons and black case fits in with both classic and modern film cameras easily!

As far as features go, this gadget packs a lot of punch for such a small device. You can enter in the sensitivity of your film, of course, but you can also easily add or subtract exposure compensation values. It supports both shutter and aperture priority, and can take a single measurement at a press of a button, or it can take continuous measurements until you tell it to stop.

Battery life shouldn’t be a concern. The device will auto-sleep after 20 seconds, and if you carry around a USB power bank you can top up your light meter too! A USB-C charge port is available to charge the 150mAh battery. Even with the OLED at full brightness, the device draws less than 5mA during the short periods it’s awake, so it should easily last your entire day of shooting, even if you take multiple rolls of film with you.

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Flexible PCB construction was, for a very long time, the exclusive realm of mass produced consumer goods. LCD drivers could be integrated into the flexible connectors on a large LCD panel, but only if you were making a few hundred thousand units. But times have changed, and now hobbyists have access to many different PCB construction methods, including aluminum, flex PCB, even Teflon and Rogers PCBs! With these methods now commonly available, we are starting to see some really cool 3D flex PCB art, like the WovenLux sphere.

Made from 6 strips of flex PCB material, each with 10 WS2812 RGB LEDs, the WovenLux is not only pretty because it lights up, but because it’s such a unique 3D structure that holds itself together with only minimal soldering required. The LEDs can face inward or outward, with the inward option shown above. On the back of the strips, you can faintly read “Incipit vita nova,” as famously uttered by Dante upon meeting Beatrice and becoming instantly enamoured with her – “A new life begins.”

This is the perfect decoration to have in your lab or hackerspace, or even just in a relaxing area of your home – perhaps in a reading nook, where you can enjoy Vita Nuova while relaxing in the soothing light of the WovenLux. Or make one and gift it to a fellow hacker! Perhaps to your very own Beatrice?

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PCB Art has been a very cool way for PCB designers to express their artistic flair, or conversely for artist to dip their toes into PCB design. This Capacitor PCB Wall Art caught my eye, as the background pattern is so well offset by the capacitor itself. And then I noticed that this same seller, Collin Marlowe Design, has a few other super cool designs.

The NASA Logo jumped out at me – the perfectly uniform red background looks great! PCB Art is not only really cool to look at, you can handle it as well, as it’s just a regular PCB and is made of durable FR4 and hard solder mask. This adds a new dimension to experiencing the artwork – being able to get up close and personal. While you can (and should) hang it up to show it off, I’d also take it off the wall to let people get a sense of how its made.

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the other awesome space-themed piece, the outline of the James Webb Space Telescope. This shape has become iconic and represents our search for answers in the universe! The combination of solder mask, screen printing and exposed metal layers on all three of these pieces gives them a sense of depth and texture. If you’re looking for a super cool gift for a fellow hacker (especially a hacker interested in space!) then check out what Collin has to offer!

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This is no ordinary breadboard. While the centre utilizes a standard 400 pin breadboard, it’s all the goodies around the outside that set this Super Breadboard prototyping device apart. Easily feed inputs in from the bottom and route outputs to the top. A short-circuit protected 3.3/5V supply provides power to your circuits, protecting against accidental miswiring.

Power can be provided from the Mini USB B connector, or from the power in connectors. The USB connector is also broken out to 0.1″ pin headers so you can attach the data lines to your prototype if needed.  The Super Breadboard can also be cascaded by attaching them directly to each other using the side-facing connectors.

Prototyping tools like this are extremely handy to have on the bench. They allow you to very quickly test small circuits without having to connect your bench power supply, and it makes it easy to monitor inputs and outputs with logic analyzers or oscilloscopes. The included button and LED are nice touches as well, eliminating the need to add them to the breadboard. A very cool design and a useful tool to boot!

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Hams like myself are always looking to play with technology, especially as it applies to our hobby of amateur radio. Whether it’s the newest, top of the line transceiver or a DIY dummy load, we’re interested – and this Capacitive Touch CW Key is a neat design! With a small touch-sensitive circuit powered by a battery, it can control any standard CW transceiver. From the look of the design, it can be used both as a straight key or as a paddle, which is a nice feature.

Why use something like this in the first place? Well, traditional keys are mechanical, and require maintenance and adjustment – not to mention they are a bit noisy! This design is completely silent (except for the sound of your dits and dahs) and will last for a long time. The only maintenance it might need is the very occasional cleaning of the touch pads, though even that is pretty unlikely unless they get particularly dirty.

The only downside is that it does require a CR2032. I would imagine that battery life is pretty good, and you can of course remove the battery when not in use, but a mechanical key doesn’t need any power at all, and so each have their pros. This is the sort of key that would be very useful on field day, or when in a quiet room with others – the silence could be a big plus! Just make sure you don’t call it a silent key or you’ll get some strange looks. 73 and good DX!

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