Tindie

Now that those of us that grew up playing classic consoles such as the NES or Genesis, or arcade games have grown up, we (hopefully) have actual jobs that pay actual money. This, combined with technology that has increased astronomically, means options for easily playing these classic games have increased as well. These vary from simple systems with the games built into a joystick, to the newly announced SNES Classic. People also put together custom consoles, from full-sized arcade cabinets, to an entire retro system built into a single game’s cartridge.

Though the legality of such homebrew retro systems is questionable at best, it’s still amazing what can be done with an inexpensive computer such as the Rasberry Pi. One of the most important aspects of a system like this is the controls setup. Playing NES games on a keyboard lacks the classic feel of a classic controller, and playing a true arcade game like Mortal Kombat or Metal Slug seems like a shame without a properly configured joystick.

To help with configuration challenges, Tindie seller Leafcutter came up with this breakout for the Arduino Pro-Micro, a dev board that can act as a human input device (HID). The breakout features screw terminals, which, as seen on this rant post, are far superior to soldering options.* Though meant for joystick use, there’s no reason it couldn’t be used as part of a keyboard shortcut device, or as a way to break out the Arduino Pro-Micro for whatever minimally soldered project you envision!

*If you disagree, feel free to let us know on Twitter @Tindie or me personally @JeremySCook!

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If you’re going to buy a computer today, you have two choices, Windows-based PCs or Macintosh. And yes, you can install another OS, like Linux, or purchase a Chromebook, but that gets into a somewhat different discussion. This hardware duopoly wasn’t always the case, as the 1980s and early ’90s, featured computers made by such companies as Tandy, Sinclair, Commodore, Cardiff Electric, and Atari, as well as the two brands that eventually came out on top.

In some ways, this consolidation was a very good thing, as developing software for 5-or-so platforms would be cumbersome. Regardless, there is a vibrant scene around using and programming these old computers as a hobby, but what if you have a piece of older computing hardware that’s not being used, or perhaps doesn’t even work? It seems a shame to get rid of it; perhaps part of it could be recycled into something new.

If your piece of older hardware just happens to be a Commodore Amiga 600 or 1200, here’s an interesting idea: use it as a keyboard for your modern computer! For how to implement this functionality, Tynemouth Software is offering a USB conversion kit that will be usable with any modern computer. It even powers the keyboard LEDs to provide normal keyboard lighting feedback.

Although you could use this with a “live” computer, Tynemouth Software encourages the use of a broken unit, as it would be a shame to break one of these vintage devices just to use as a keyboard!

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If you ride a bicycle with any regularity, safety is obviously of the utmost concern. Although wearing a helmet is a great first step, knowing the rules of the road, and perhaps more importantly, how motorists interpret them with respect to bicycles, can help you keep from having to put your safety gear to use.

Of course, predicting how drivers will interpret your presence on the road depends on them actually seeing you. At night, a light can help with this, and during the day, especially if you ride a recumbent bicycle, making yourself a little taller with a flag is a great idea. So, this begs the question, why not combine the two?

You could make your own, possibly with some variation on the “Throwie” concept. In fact, here’s one that only runs at night, saving your battery for when you really need it. On the other hand, the “Pixel Pole” is actually designed for this use.

As seen in the video below, this 30 LED RGB strip shines brilliantly, and will absolutely get you noticed. It’s powered by a rechargeable Li-Ion battery, and uses an Arduino processor for control. So you could actually reprogram it if you’re not happy with the available patterns!

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Held annually in Las Vegas, DEF CON is one of the world’s largest hacker conventions. This year it’ll be even bigger as its devotees will be celebrating the 25th year of DEF CON from the 27th-30th of July. Tindie will be there along with the Hackaday crew!

You may ask why would we be interested in a security conference where attendees could end up on the wall of sheep, or where there’s an interesting mix of federal government employees and attendees up-to-shenanigans? There has always been a healthy crossover between the infosec and hardware community, and number of exciting prototypes and devices coming out of that is growing at an increasing rate.

If you look at Hackaday’s past DEF CON coverage, you can see the explosion in unofficial badges and artisanal electronics. There are over a dozen villages — Hardware Hacking, IoT Security, Biohacking, Crypto, and more — each with their own talks and activities. Infosec is increasingly looking past network servers to dedicated and connected hardware, often using custom equipment to test or exploit these systems. This all sounds like the unique and cutting-edge hardware that ought to be listed on Tindie.

Take a look at DEF CON’s speaker schedule and workshops. You’ll see that it’s a massive opportunity to learn new skills and share ideas. Security attracts an array of folks including computer security professionals, journalists, lawyers, security researchers, students interested in how the things they use work, and who want to understand them in a way that most people take for granted as ‘safe’ and ‘working’.

Will you be at DEF CON?

Help us find you and other awesome hardware at DEF CON. Join the Hackaday.io project Hardware Hunting at DEF CON 25 to post details or let us know on Twitter and we’ll try to find you this weekend.

Drop by the IoT Village

We’re one of the sponsors of IoT Village this year, so stop by to say hi. Likely Jasmine Brackett and Shulie Tornel will be there in the early afternoons, and for the Hardware Hacking 101 workshop with Ken Monroe from 5:30pm on Friday. The IoT Village has a full lineup of IoT Security talks Friday through Sunday.

Complete the DC Darknet Teaser to get early access to the Darknet Badge

We’ll also be lending a hand for the Darknet badge rush. If you like puzzles and quests, ‘Connect to the Daemon‘ to view the Casefile. Darknet will take you to the limit of your existing knowledge… and beyond. Join them, to go on a quest to improve your technical abilities.

(1/3) Completed the DC Darknet Teaser? Badge kits on sale Fri & Sat at 10a.m. Early access and discounted price: $60, limit 1pp

— DefCon Darknet (@DCDarknet) July 23, 2017

Join us at the Hackaday Meetup on Sunday

Mike Szczys and Brian Benchoff will be at DEF CON too and have already been getting pre-event sneak peeks at the different unofficial badges and sharing on Hackaday. Plus there’s the Hackaday meet up on Sunday morning where we’ll have some swag we made especially for DEF CON. Hope to see you there!

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Amazon Prime day has come and gone, and perhaps you picked up an Amazon Dash button to give you extremely easy access to household goods. It was something of a hacker’s delight since the buttons were on sale that day for 99 cents! I’m sure you’ve noticed that they can be modified in many creative ways.

For instance, for a sort of “hello world” demo, you can see Tony DiCola’s setup below, where he programs a Dash button to flash its built-in RGB LED. They can, of course, be hacked to do much more, for instance, order a drink from the nearest Starbucks!

The only problem is that Amazon (understandably) didn’t really build these to act as a substitute for an Arduino or Raspberry Pi. To get the to do your bidding you’ll need to use a more complicated hardware and software tools than most hobby projects. Adafruit outlines the process here, but the end result is normally a Dash button with a bunch of wires permanently soldered to it.

If, however, you’d like a cleaner programming setup that can be applied and disconnected as needed, the Amazon Dash Debugger Connector from Wild Works Co. looks like just what you need. Current “REV01” buttons will need the connector soldered onto the appropriate solder pads, but the original buttons can accommodate this connector without board modification

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Who doesn’t love Arduino boards and their various derivations? Getting started with them is a great introduction to electronics and programming, and the ecosystem extends to much more advanced projects as you progress in your hobby and/or profession. On the other hand, one barrier you’re likely to bump into sooner than later is that these and most other boards of this kind need to be plugged in.

One solution is to get a USB battery — like the popular “lipstick” chargers — and plug it into the board’s USB connector. That, however, is more of a temporary solution, and takes up the USB port which you may want to use. There is also a power plug on many of these boards that could be adapted to portable use. And if you’re willing to get out your soldering iron, just about anything is possible.

Or, for something refined and easy, Tindie seller Iohippo designed the ArduBoost Lipo. This add-on allows you to hook up and charge a LiPo battery on several types of Arduino boards, such as the Uno and Leonardo. Power is provided via a TPS61026 boost converter, which can provide up to 1A of current at 5V. Importantly, the ArduBoost features a set of screws that secure it to the dev board, leading to its refined and semi-permanent look!

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Smartphones have incredible cameras that are light years ahead of even what was available a few years ago. On the other hand, if you want to take photos of your small electronic creations with one, it’s difficult to set everything up consistently. After all, phone cameras are mostly billed as devices meant to capture sporting events and selfies, and aren’t necessarily optimized to photograph very small devices.

For this purpose, a DSLR camera with a proper tripod, light box, and a macro lens is the best solution. On the other hand, not everyone has $1000 or so in their photography budget. But if you look at Tindie’s catalog, there is a wide range of quality in the photography, meaning there is room for improvement even if you don’t have a professional setup.

For those that are on a tight budget, but would like a way to enhance their product images, Iotalot is offering a “small photo studio designed specifically to let makers take great photos of their electronic creations using their smart phones.” This device resembles—and was prototyped with—a shoebox, and comes with guides to help you place your phone consistently over your subject. For lighting, LEDs come installed in the lid, and you can optionally order an RGB controller and/or power supply if needed.

Consistency is one simple way to improve your product photos, which makes a big difference in how people perceive your hardware. Think about lighting, camera angle, and resolution. Look for great photos and ask yourself what makes them pleasing to the eye. It’s a poor musician who blames their instrument… and sometimes for better photos you simply need to think inside the shoebox rather than reaching for a fancier camera.

I discuss product photography a bit more in this post if you’d like my opinion on the subject, along with as a few tips.

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As evidenced by Tindie’s robust Sound section, audio hacking is alive and well. Though this can take many different forms, a very versatile tool for transporting electronic music signals is the MIDI, or Musical Instrument Digital Interface standard. Though originally meant to allow digital instruments and computers to interact with one another, these signals can be translated into physical outputs, such as the Robotic Drum Kit seen below:

Physically, the setup of these drums is simple enough. Actuators, most likely solenoids, cause devices to play the percussion instruments, but how does the signal get from computer signals to the solenoids themselves? You could hack something together to do this, but if you’d rather concentrate on the music, another alternative is this Relay Switcher device.

This “8 Channel MIDI-to-relay module” takes in a MIDI signal, then uses it to switch eight isolated SPDT relays that can drive up to 10 amps of current capacity per channel. Given the massive amount of power it’s capable of switching, it can open up all kinds of musical possibilities!

On the other hand, relays can’t effectively regulate sound intensity through pulse-width modulation. To gain this type of control you need a different option. Hardware designer  “Hotchk155,” offers a transistor-based switcher that has this capability.

If you’re considering between these to methods of switching for your next audio adventure, you can see the pros and cons of each device on this comparison sheet.

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Many of us tap our fingers or a writing implement when bored (or, more recently, spin bearings around). Although this type of musical creation method is likely as old as mankind itself, here’s a device to take your tapping skills to the next level, a beat looper that repeats your tapped rhythm.

As described in its product listing, you tap a pattern into its tiny speaker up to 12 beats long, and once you’ve repeated this pattern three times it will continue beeping in the same sequence. The device also shows the tempo in beats per minute, which can be adjusted via two buttons.

It’s an interesting device, but how do they handle the record and playback? It’s open source so you can not only play with it, but learn from the source code and do some modification for your own projects. An interesting idea be adding an aux cable jack for use in a performance, or you could even hook up the output using a transistor setup in order to actuate a physical device (or devices), as seen in this Kickstarter from daddamachines! You could even use something like this as a Morse code repeater, though you’d need some way to signify long and short taps.

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When you think of slow and semi-permanent display methods, E-Ink may come to mind, as once the proper bits are turned on or off they require no power to operate. On the other hand, a “no-power” display technology has actually been around since the 1960s in the form of flip-disk, or flip-dot, displays. They use an array of disks, each containing an electromagnet setup that literally flips the dots between a visible or a dark position.

Though they are gradually being replaced by newer technologies, this type of tech could be seen on public information displays, such as busses or airports for many years. Naturally, whenever a technology starts to phase out, enterprising hackers swoop in and re-purpose it for our own means. For better or worse, much of the time this turns into some sort of clock, like “Dottie,” seen on Hackaday.

As interesting as that is, it still looks like quite a bit of work. If you’d like a head start on your clicky clock, Shmonogear is selling a Bluetooth-enabled flip-clock prototype. It shows the hours, then a colon, then the minutes, pausing in between for a set time. Interface requires you to send it commands via the Nordic Bluetooth toolbox app, meaning you’ll need some technical expertise to work with it.

Naturally, this clock isn’t recommended for quiet areas due to its intermittent clicking, but would be great for somewhere that needs a little ambient noise!

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