If you are interested in building your very own RPN calculator you might be interested in a new project published to the Instructables website this week by member Shiura. Using a CNC machine, the calculator has been constructed using a wooden case together with acrylic screen protector, and a little Arduino hardware. Featuring an Arduino Nano microcontroller board and […]
The official Arduino development team have this week introduced their very first micro PLC with Industrial IoT capabilities in the form of Opta. Designed to provide users with a secure and easy-to-use micro PLC the Opta supports Arduino programming and optional PLC standard languages. Powered by a powerful STM32H747XI dual-core Cortex-M7 +M4 MCU the Opta enables “real-time control, monitoring
Arduino Pro Opta industrial IoT micro PLC launched Continue Reading
Even though some devices now use WiFi and Bluetooth, so much of our home entertainment equipment still relies on its own proprietary infrared remote control. By and large (when you can find them) they work fine, but what happens when they stop working? First port of call is to change the batteries, of course, but
We’re used to seeing all manner of seven-segment displays, be they mechanical, electronic, or something in between. But what all these displays have in common is that they’re, you know, displays. Using them as inputs would just be crazy talk, right? Perhaps, but we like where [Dave Ehnebuske] is going with “InSlide,” the seven-segment input device.
THE SEVEN-SEGMENT DISPLAY THAT’S ALSO AN INPUT DEVICE Continue Reading
The PC turbo button and LED clock speed display were common features on early personal computers. Wanting to add a little retro chic to his modern battle-station, [Matthew Frost] assembled a charming and functional homage to the turbo button control panel. In days past, this automotive nomenclature implied a performance boost when activated. Instead, ‘turbo mode’
TURBO BUTTON PAYS CHARMING HOMAGE TO EARLY PERSONAL COMPUTERS Continue Reading
The Garmin HUD+ was a small Bluetooth device intended for the dashboard of a car, meant to be used as a GPS heads-up display for data from Garmin smartphone apps. It used a bright VFD (vacuum fluorescent display) which was viewed through a clear reflector, and displayed GPS information and directions. It was discontinued in
GARMIN HUD GOT DISCONTINUED, BUT NOT TRASHED Continue Reading
ePaper pricetags are becoming popular parts in the hacker community as a cheap way into tinkering with the technology. [Aaron Christophel] got his hands on a 4.4″ model with red, black, and white colors, and set about programming an ESP32 to drive the price tag instead. The protocol the display uses was reverse-engineered by prompting the
DRIVING THREE-COLOR E-PAPER PRICETAGS WITH AN ARDUINO Continue Reading
For British kids of a certain age, their first experience of a computer was very likely to have been in front of a Sinclair ZX81. The lesser-known predecessor to the wildly-successful ZX Spectrum, it came in at under £100 and sported a Z80 processor and a whopping 1k of memory. In the long tradition of
ONE OF THE WORST KEYBOARDS EVER, NOW AN ARDUINO PERIPHERAL Continue Reading
Hearing loss is a common problem for many – especially those who may have attended too many loud concerts in their youth. [mircemk] had recently been for a hearing test, and noticed that the procedure was actually quite straightforward. Armed with this knowledge, he decided to build his own test system and document it for others to
When the need for speed overcomes you, thoughts generally don’t turn to 8-bit computers. Sure, an 8-bit machine is fun for retro gameplay and reliving the glory days, and there certainly were some old machines that were notably faster than the others. But raw computing power isn’t really the point of retrocomputing. Or is it?
THIS SNAPPY 8-BIT MICROCOMPUTER BRINGS THE SPEED TO RETROCOMPUTING Continue Reading
