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  15. <title>Blog &#8211; Hackaday</title>
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  27. <title>Retrotechtacular: The Other Kind of Fallout Show</title>
  28. <link>https://hackaday.com/2024/04/16/retrotechtacular-the-other-kind-of-fallout-show/</link>
  29. <comments>https://hackaday.com/2024/04/16/retrotechtacular-the-other-kind-of-fallout-show/#comments</comments>
  31. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Dan Maloney]]></dc:creator>
  32. <pubDate>Tue, 16 Apr 2024 08:00:32 +0000</pubDate>
  33. <category><![CDATA[Retrotechtacular]]></category>
  34. <category><![CDATA[atomic]]></category>
  35. <category><![CDATA[cold war]]></category>
  36. <category><![CDATA[dosimetry]]></category>
  37. <category><![CDATA[Fallout]]></category>
  38. <category><![CDATA[food safety]]></category>
  39. <category><![CDATA[nuclear]]></category>
  40. <category><![CDATA[polish]]></category>
  41. <category><![CDATA[radiation]]></category>
  42. <category><![CDATA[retrotechtacular]]></category>
  43. <category><![CDATA[survival]]></category>
  44. <category><![CDATA[water]]></category>
  45. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://hackaday.com/?p=674016</guid>
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  47. <description><![CDATA[<div><img width="800" height="450" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/polish_fallout.png?w=800" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" srcset="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/polish_fallout.png 1920w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/polish_fallout.png?resize=250,141 250w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/polish_fallout.png?resize=400,225 400w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/polish_fallout.png?resize=800,450 800w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/polish_fallout.png?resize=1536,864 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" data-attachment-id="674020" data-permalink="https://hackaday.com/2024/04/16/retrotechtacular-the-other-kind-of-fallout-show/polish_fallout/" data-orig-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/polish_fallout.png" data-orig-size="1920,1080" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="polish_fallout" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/polish_fallout.png?w=400" data-large-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/polish_fallout.png?w=800" /></div>Thanks to the newly released Amazon Prime series, not to mention nearly 30 years as a wildly successful gaming franchise, Fallout is very much in the zeitgeist these days. But <a href="https://hackaday.com/2024/04/16/retrotechtacular-the-other-kind-of-fallout-show/" class="read-more">&#8230;read more</a>]]></description>
  48. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img width="800" height="450" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/polish_fallout.png?w=800" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/polish_fallout.png 1920w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/polish_fallout.png?resize=250,141 250w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/polish_fallout.png?resize=400,225 400w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/polish_fallout.png?resize=800,450 800w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/polish_fallout.png?resize=1536,864 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" data-attachment-id="674020" data-permalink="https://hackaday.com/2024/04/16/retrotechtacular-the-other-kind-of-fallout-show/polish_fallout/" data-orig-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/polish_fallout.png" data-orig-size="1920,1080" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="polish_fallout" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/polish_fallout.png?w=400" data-large-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/polish_fallout.png?w=800" /></div><p>Thanks to the newly released Amazon Prime series, not to mention nearly 30 years as a wildly successful gaming franchise, <em>Fallout</em> is very much in the zeitgeist these days. But before all that, small-F fallout was on the minds of people living in countries on both sides of the Iron Curtain who would have to deal with the aftermath of a nuclear exchange.</p>
  49. <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bBkyrJvPhE" target="_blank">&#8220;<em>Uwaga! Pył promieniotwórczy</em>&#8220;</a>  (&#8220;Beware! Radioactive Dust&#8221;) is a 1965 Polish civil defense film from film studio <em><span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-core-attributed-string--white-space-pre-wrap" role="text">Wytwórnia Filmów Oświatowych</span></em>. While the Cold War turning hot was not likely to leave any corner of the planet unscathed, Poland was certainly destined to bear the early brunt of a nuclear exchange between the superpowers, and it was clear that the powers that be wanted to equip any surviving Polish people with the tools needed to deal with their sudden change in circumstances.</p>
  50. <p><a href="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/falloutvideo_detail.jpg" target="_blank"><img decoding="async" data-attachment-id="674032" data-permalink="https://hackaday.com/2024/04/16/retrotechtacular-the-other-kind-of-fallout-show/falloutvideo_detail/" data-orig-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/falloutvideo_detail.jpg" data-orig-size="518,703" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="falloutvideo_detail" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/falloutvideo_detail.jpg?w=295" data-large-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/falloutvideo_detail.jpg?w=461" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-674032" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/falloutvideo_detail.jpg?w=295" alt="" width="295" height="400" srcset="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/falloutvideo_detail.jpg 518w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/falloutvideo_detail.jpg?resize=184,250 184w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/falloutvideo_detail.jpg?resize=295,400 295w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/falloutvideo_detail.jpg?resize=461,625 461w" sizes="(max-width: 295px) 100vw, 295px" /></a>The film, narrated in Polish but with subtitles in English, seems mainly aimed at rural populations and is mercifully free of the details of both fallout formation and the potential effects of contact with radioactive dust, save for a couple of shots of what looks like a pretty mild case of cutaneous radiation syndrome.</p>
  51. <p>Defense against fallout seems focused on not inhaling radioactive dust with either respirators or expedient facemasks, and keeping particles outside the house by wearing raincoats and boots, which can be easily cleaned with water. The fact that nowhere in the film is it mentioned that getting fallout on your clothes or in your lungs could be largely avoided by not going outside is telling; farmers really can&#8217;t keep things running from the basement.</p>
  52. <p>A lot of time in this brief film is dedicated to preventing food and water from becoming contaminated, and cleaning it off if it does happen to get exposed. We thought the little tin enclosures over the wells were quite clever, as were the ways to transfer water from the well to the house without picking up any contamination. The pros and cons of different foods are covered too &#8212; basically, canned foods <em>dobry</em>, boxed foods <em>zły</em>. So, thumbs up for Cram, but you might want to skip the YumYum deviled eggs.</p>
  53. <p>Dealing with the potential for a nuclear apocalypse is necessarily an unpleasant subject, and it&#8217;s easy to dismiss the advice of the filmmakers as quaint and outdated, or just an attempt to give the Polish people a sense of false hope. And that may well be, but then again, giving people solid, practical steps they can take will at least give them some agency, and that&#8217;s rarely a bad thing.</p>
  54. <p><span id="more-674016"></span></p>
  55. <p><iframe title="&quot;Beware! Radioactive dust&quot; (1965) /WFO Film Studio/English subtitles/" width="800" height="450" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2bBkyrJvPhE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
  56. <p>Thanks to [Patrym] for the tip.</p>
  57. ]]></content:encoded>
  59. <wfw:commentRss>https://hackaday.com/2024/04/16/retrotechtacular-the-other-kind-of-fallout-show/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  60. <slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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  70. </item>
  71. <item>
  72. <title>Alternate Threaded Inserts for 3D Prints</title>
  73. <link>https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/alternate-threaded-inserts-for-3d-prints/</link>
  74. <comments>https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/alternate-threaded-inserts-for-3d-prints/#comments</comments>
  76. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Donald Papp]]></dc:creator>
  77. <pubDate>Tue, 16 Apr 2024 05:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
  78. <category><![CDATA[3d Printer hacks]]></category>
  79. <category><![CDATA[3d printed]]></category>
  80. <category><![CDATA[threaded insert]]></category>
  81. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://hackaday.com/?p=673908</guid>
  82.  
  83. <description><![CDATA[<div><img width="800" height="450" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-0-52-screenshot.png?w=800" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-0-52-screenshot.png 1280w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-0-52-screenshot.png?resize=250,141 250w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-0-52-screenshot.png?resize=400,225 400w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-0-52-screenshot.png?resize=800,450 800w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" data-attachment-id="673913" data-permalink="https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/alternate-threaded-inserts-for-3d-prints/these-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3d-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-0-52-screenshot/" data-orig-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-0-52-screenshot.png" data-orig-size="1280,720" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="These threaded inserts aren&#8217;t made for 3D prints (but work amazingly well) 0-52 screenshot" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-0-52-screenshot.png?w=400" data-large-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-0-52-screenshot.png?w=800" /></div>The usual way to put a durable threaded interface into a 3D print is to use a heat-set insert, but what about other options? [Thomas Sanladerer] evaluates a variety of <a href="https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/alternate-threaded-inserts-for-3d-prints/" class="read-more">&#8230;read more</a>]]></description>
  84. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img width="800" height="450" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-0-52-screenshot.png?w=800" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-0-52-screenshot.png 1280w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-0-52-screenshot.png?resize=250,141 250w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-0-52-screenshot.png?resize=400,225 400w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-0-52-screenshot.png?resize=800,450 800w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" data-attachment-id="673913" data-permalink="https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/alternate-threaded-inserts-for-3d-prints/these-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3d-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-0-52-screenshot/" data-orig-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-0-52-screenshot.png" data-orig-size="1280,720" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="These threaded inserts aren&#8217;t made for 3D prints (but work amazingly well) 0-52 screenshot" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-0-52-screenshot.png?w=400" data-large-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-0-52-screenshot.png?w=800" /></div><p>The usual way to put a durable threaded interface into a 3D print is to use a heat-set insert, but what about other options? [Thomas Sanladerer] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYXTiJo_FQQ" target="_blank">evaluates a variety of different threaded inserts</a>, none of which are actually made with 3D printing in mind but are useful nevertheless.</p>
  85. <p><a href="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-12-18-screenshot.png" target="_blank"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="673914" data-permalink="https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/alternate-threaded-inserts-for-3d-prints/these-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3d-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-12-18-screenshot/" data-orig-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-12-18-screenshot.png" data-orig-size="720,720" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="These threaded inserts aren&#8217;t made for 3D prints (but work amazingly well) 12-18 screenshot" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-12-18-screenshot.png?w=400" data-large-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-12-18-screenshot.png?w=625" class="alignright wp-image-673914 size-thumbnail" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-12-18-screenshot.png?w=250" alt="" width="250" height="250" srcset="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-12-18-screenshot.png 720w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-12-18-screenshot.png?resize=250,250 250w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-12-18-screenshot.png?resize=400,400 400w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-12-18-screenshot.png?resize=625,625 625w" sizes="(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px" /></a>There are a number of other easily-available threaded inserts, including the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivet_nut" target="_blank">rivnut (or rivet nut)</a>, chunky hex socket threaded inserts intended for wood and furniture, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threaded_insert#Helical_insert" target="_blank">heli-coils</a> or helical inserts (which resemble springs), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threaded_insert#Externally-threaded_inserts" target="_blank">self-tapping threaded inserts</a> (also sold as thread adapters), and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-nut" target="_blank">T-nuts</a> or prong nuts. They all are a bit different, but he measures each one and gives a thorough rundown on how they perform, as well as offering his thoughts on what works best.</p>
  86. <p>[Thomas] only tests M5 fasteners in this video, so keep that in mind if you get ideas and go shopping for new hardware. Some of the tested inserts aren&#8217;t commonly available in smaller sizes. Self-tapping threaded inserts, for example, are available all the way down to M2, but the hex socket threaded inserts don&#8217;t seem to come any smaller than M4.</p>
  87. <p>These threaded inserts might be just what your next project calls for, so keep them in mind. Heat-set inserts are of course still a great option, and our own Sonya Vasquez can tell you <a href="https://hackaday.com/2019/02/28/threading-3d-printed-parts-how-to-use-heat-set-inserts/">everything you need to know about installing heat-set inserts into 3D printed parts</a> in a way that leaves them looking super professional.</p>
  88. <p><span id="more-673908"></span></p>
  89. <p><iframe loading="lazy" title="These threaded inserts aren&#039;t made for 3D prints (but work amazingly well)" width="800" height="450" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lYXTiJo_FQQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
  90. ]]></content:encoded>
  92. <wfw:commentRss>https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/alternate-threaded-inserts-for-3d-prints/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  93. <slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
  96. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">673908</post-id>
  97. <media:thumbnail url="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-0-52-screenshot.png" />
  98. <media:content url="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-0-52-screenshot.png" medium="image">
  99. <media:title type="html">These threaded inserts aren&#039;t made for 3D prints (but work amazingly well) 0-52 screenshot</media:title>
  100. </media:content>
  101.  
  102. <media:content url="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/These-threaded-inserts-arent-made-for-3D-prints-but-work-amazingly-well-12-18-screenshot.png?w=250" medium="image" />
  103. </item>
  104. <item>
  105. <title>Building a Tape Echo In A Coke Can Tape Player That Doesn&#8217;t Really Work</title>
  106. <link>https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/building-a-tape-echo-in-a-coke-can-tape-player-that-doesnt-really-work/</link>
  107. <comments>https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/building-a-tape-echo-in-a-coke-can-tape-player-that-doesnt-really-work/#respond</comments>
  109. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Lewin Day]]></dc:creator>
  110. <pubDate>Tue, 16 Apr 2024 02:00:52 +0000</pubDate>
  111. <category><![CDATA[Musical Hacks]]></category>
  112. <category><![CDATA[cassette]]></category>
  113. <category><![CDATA[tape]]></category>
  114. <category><![CDATA[tape deck]]></category>
  115. <category><![CDATA[tape echo]]></category>
  116. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://hackaday.com/?p=673955</guid>
  117.  
  118. <description><![CDATA[<div><img width="800" height="450" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/I-Made-A-Coca-Cola-Tape-Echo-And-It-Failed-Miserably-2-27-screenshot.png?w=800" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/I-Made-A-Coca-Cola-Tape-Echo-And-It-Failed-Miserably-2-27-screenshot.png 1280w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/I-Made-A-Coca-Cola-Tape-Echo-And-It-Failed-Miserably-2-27-screenshot.png?resize=250,141 250w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/I-Made-A-Coca-Cola-Tape-Echo-And-It-Failed-Miserably-2-27-screenshot.png?resize=400,225 400w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/I-Made-A-Coca-Cola-Tape-Echo-And-It-Failed-Miserably-2-27-screenshot.png?resize=800,450 800w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" data-attachment-id="673979" data-permalink="https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/building-a-tape-echo-in-a-coke-can-tape-player-that-doesnt-really-work/i-made-a-coca-cola-tape-echo-and-it-failed-miserably-2-27-screenshot/" data-orig-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/I-Made-A-Coca-Cola-Tape-Echo-And-It-Failed-Miserably-2-27-screenshot.png" data-orig-size="1280,720" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="I Made A Coca Cola Tape Echo And It Failed Miserably 2-27 screenshot" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/I-Made-A-Coca-Cola-Tape-Echo-And-It-Failed-Miserably-2-27-screenshot.png?w=400" data-large-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/I-Made-A-Coca-Cola-Tape-Echo-And-It-Failed-Miserably-2-27-screenshot.png?w=800" /></div>Back in the 1990s, you could get a tape player shaped like a can of Coca Cola. [Simon the Magpie] scored one of these decks and decided to turn it <a href="https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/building-a-tape-echo-in-a-coke-can-tape-player-that-doesnt-really-work/" class="read-more">&#8230;read more</a>]]></description>
  119. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img width="800" height="450" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/I-Made-A-Coca-Cola-Tape-Echo-And-It-Failed-Miserably-2-27-screenshot.png?w=800" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/I-Made-A-Coca-Cola-Tape-Echo-And-It-Failed-Miserably-2-27-screenshot.png 1280w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/I-Made-A-Coca-Cola-Tape-Echo-And-It-Failed-Miserably-2-27-screenshot.png?resize=250,141 250w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/I-Made-A-Coca-Cola-Tape-Echo-And-It-Failed-Miserably-2-27-screenshot.png?resize=400,225 400w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/I-Made-A-Coca-Cola-Tape-Echo-And-It-Failed-Miserably-2-27-screenshot.png?resize=800,450 800w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" data-attachment-id="673979" data-permalink="https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/building-a-tape-echo-in-a-coke-can-tape-player-that-doesnt-really-work/i-made-a-coca-cola-tape-echo-and-it-failed-miserably-2-27-screenshot/" data-orig-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/I-Made-A-Coca-Cola-Tape-Echo-And-It-Failed-Miserably-2-27-screenshot.png" data-orig-size="1280,720" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="I Made A Coca Cola Tape Echo And It Failed Miserably 2-27 screenshot" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/I-Made-A-Coca-Cola-Tape-Echo-And-It-Failed-Miserably-2-27-screenshot.png?w=400" data-large-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/I-Made-A-Coca-Cola-Tape-Echo-And-It-Failed-Miserably-2-27-screenshot.png?w=800" /></div><p>Back in the 1990s, you could get a tape player shaped like a can of Coca Cola. [Simon the Magpie] scored one of these decks and decided to turn it into <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKU9rQnIBCE" target="_blank">a tape echo effect instead.</a> It didn&#8217;t work so well, but the concept is a compelling one. You can see the result in the video below.</p>
  120. <p>The core of the effect is a tape loop, which [Simon] set up to loop around a pair of hacked-up cassette shells. This allows him to place one half of the loop in the Coca-Cola cassette player and the other half in a more conventional desktop tape deck. A 3D-printed bracket allows the two decks and the tape loop to be assembled into one complete unit.</p>
  121. <p>The function is simple. The desktop tape deck records onto the loop, with the Coca-Cola unit then playing back that section of tape a short while later. Hey, presto &#8212; it&#8217;s a tape delay! It&#8217;s super lo-fi, though, and the tape loop is incredibly fragile.</p>
  122. <p><span id="more-673955"></span></p>
  123. <p>There&#8217;s some charm in the warbly, weird sounds coming out of the Coca-Cola tape player. [Simon] turns this to his advantage and drops an incredibly catchy avant-garde pop hook with great results. It reminds us of some great DIY hardware we saw <a href="https://hackaday.com/2012/08/23/playing-with-dsp-and-building-a-guitar-pedal/">many years ago</a>. We&#8217;ve been seeing a lot of <a href="https://hackaday.com/2024/03/20/a-tape-echo-for-anyone/">tape echos</a> lately, but we don&#8217;t know why.</p>
  124. <p><iframe loading="lazy" title="I Made A Coca Cola Tape Echo And It Failed Miserably" width="800" height="450" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bKU9rQnIBCE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
  125. ]]></content:encoded>
  127. <wfw:commentRss>https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/building-a-tape-echo-in-a-coke-can-tape-player-that-doesnt-really-work/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  128. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  131. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">673955</post-id>
  132. <media:thumbnail url="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/I-Made-A-Coca-Cola-Tape-Echo-And-It-Failed-Miserably-2-27-screenshot.png" />
  133. <media:content url="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/I-Made-A-Coca-Cola-Tape-Echo-And-It-Failed-Miserably-2-27-screenshot.png" medium="image">
  134. <media:title type="html">I Made A Coca Cola Tape Echo And It Failed Miserably 2-27 screenshot</media:title>
  135. </media:content>
  136. </item>
  137. <item>
  138. <title>Compaq Portable III is More Than Meets the Eye</title>
  139. <link>https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/compaq-portable-iii-is-more-than-meets-the-eye/</link>
  140. <comments>https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/compaq-portable-iii-is-more-than-meets-the-eye/#comments</comments>
  142. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Lewin Day]]></dc:creator>
  143. <pubDate>Mon, 15 Apr 2024 23:00:48 +0000</pubDate>
  144. <category><![CDATA[computer hacks]]></category>
  145. <category><![CDATA[Retrocomputing]]></category>
  146. <category><![CDATA[compaq]]></category>
  147. <category><![CDATA[compaq portable III]]></category>
  148. <category><![CDATA[portable III]]></category>
  149. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://hackaday.com/?p=673957</guid>
  150.  
  151. <description><![CDATA[<div><img width="800" height="451" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2764971712946299202-e1713174637865.jpg?w=800" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" data-attachment-id="673970" data-permalink="https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/compaq-portable-iii-is-more-than-meets-the-eye/attachment/2764971712946299202/" data-orig-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2764971712946299202-e1713174637865.jpg" data-orig-size="3024,1706" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="2764971712946299202" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2764971712946299202-e1713174637865.jpg?w=400" data-large-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2764971712946299202-e1713174637865.jpg?w=800" /></div>The Compaq Portable III hails from the 386 era &#8212; in the days before the laptop form factor was what we know today. It&#8217;s got a bit of an odd <a href="https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/compaq-portable-iii-is-more-than-meets-the-eye/" class="read-more">&#8230;read more</a>]]></description>
  152. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img width="800" height="451" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2764971712946299202-e1713174637865.jpg?w=800" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" data-attachment-id="673970" data-permalink="https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/compaq-portable-iii-is-more-than-meets-the-eye/attachment/2764971712946299202/" data-orig-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2764971712946299202-e1713174637865.jpg" data-orig-size="3024,1706" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="2764971712946299202" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2764971712946299202-e1713174637865.jpg?w=400" data-large-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2764971712946299202-e1713174637865.jpg?w=800" /></div><p>The Compaq Portable III hails from the 386 era &#8212; in the days before the laptop form factor was what we know today. It&#8217;s got a bit of an odd design, but a compelling one, and the keyboard is pretty nifty, too. [r0r0] found one of these old-school machines and decided it was well worth refitting it <a href="https://hackaday.io/project/195600-compaq-portable-iii" target="_blank">to give it some modern grunt.</a></p>
  153. <p>The Portable III ended up scoring a mini-ITX build, with an AMD Ryzen 7 3700X and an AMD RX580 GPU. Cramming all this into the original shell took some work, like using a vertical riser to fit in the GPU. Hilariously, the RGB RAM sticks are a little bit wasted when the enclosure is closed.</p>
  154. <p>For the purists out there, you&#8217;ll be relieved to know the machine&#8217;s original plasma display was dead. Thus, a larger modern LCD was fitted instead. However, [r0r0] did play around with software to emulate the plasma look just for fun.</p>
  155. <p>It&#8217;s funny to think you could once score one of these proud machines <a href="https://hackaday.com/2011/06/09/compaq-portable-iii-rises-again-for-a-noble-cause/">for free at a swap meet</a>.</p>
  156. <p><span id="more-673957"></span></p>
  157. <div style="width: 640px;" class="wp-video"><video class="wp-video-shortcode" id="video-673957-3" width="640" height="360" preload="metadata" controls="controls"><source type="video/mp4" src="https://cdn.hackaday.io/files/1956008368550400/1.mp4?_=3" /><a href="https://cdn.hackaday.io/files/1956008368550400/1.mp4" target="_blank">https://cdn.hackaday.io/files/1956008368550400/1.mp4</a></video></div>
  158. <div style="width: 640px;" class="wp-video"><video class="wp-video-shortcode" id="video-673957-4" width="640" height="360" preload="metadata" controls="controls"><source type="video/mp4" src="https://cdn.hackaday.io/files/1956008368550400/2.mp4?_=4" /><a href="https://cdn.hackaday.io/files/1956008368550400/2.mp4" target="_blank">https://cdn.hackaday.io/files/1956008368550400/2.mp4</a></video></div>
  159. ]]></content:encoded>
  161. <wfw:commentRss>https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/compaq-portable-iii-is-more-than-meets-the-eye/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  162. <slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
  165. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">673957</post-id>
  166. <media:thumbnail url="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2764971712946299202-e1713174637865.jpg" />
  167. <media:content url="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2764971712946299202-e1713174637865.jpg" medium="image">
  168. <media:title type="html">2764971712946299202</media:title>
  169. </media:content>
  170. </item>
  171. <item>
  172. <title>Plasma Cutter on the Cheap Reviewed</title>
  173. <link>https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/plasma-cutter-on-the-cheap-reviewed/</link>
  174. <comments>https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/plasma-cutter-on-the-cheap-reviewed/#comments</comments>
  176. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Al Williams]]></dc:creator>
  177. <pubDate>Mon, 15 Apr 2024 20:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
  178. <category><![CDATA[Reviews]]></category>
  179. <category><![CDATA[Tool Hacks]]></category>
  180. <category><![CDATA[plasma cutter]]></category>
  181. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://hackaday.com/?p=673889</guid>
  182.  
  183. <description><![CDATA[<div><img width="800" height="450" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/plasma.png?w=800" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/plasma.png 800w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/plasma.png?resize=250,141 250w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/plasma.png?resize=400,225 400w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" data-attachment-id="673892" data-permalink="https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/plasma-cutter-on-the-cheap-reviewed/plasma-17/" data-orig-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/plasma.png" data-orig-size="800,450" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="plasma" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/plasma.png?w=400" data-large-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/plasma.png?w=800" /></div>If you have a well-equipped shop, it isn&#8217;t unusual to have a welder. Stick welders have become a commodity and even some that use shield gas are cheap if you <a href="https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/plasma-cutter-on-the-cheap-reviewed/" class="read-more">&#8230;read more</a>]]></description>
  184. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img width="800" height="450" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/plasma.png?w=800" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/plasma.png 800w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/plasma.png?resize=250,141 250w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/plasma.png?resize=400,225 400w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" data-attachment-id="673892" data-permalink="https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/plasma-cutter-on-the-cheap-reviewed/plasma-17/" data-orig-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/plasma.png" data-orig-size="800,450" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="plasma" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/plasma.png?w=400" data-large-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/plasma.png?w=800" /></div><p>If you have a well-equipped shop, it isn&#8217;t unusual to have a welder. Stick welders have become a commodity and even some that use shield gas are cheap if you don&#8217;t count buying the bottle of gas. But plasma cutters are still a bit pricey. Can you get one from China for under $300? Yes. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-peLKTniwQ" target="_blank">Do you want one that cheap?</a> [Metal Massacre Fab Shop] answers that question in the video below.</p>
  185. <p>First impressions count, and having plasma misspelled on the unit (plasme) isn&#8217;t promising. The instructions were unclear, and some of the fittings didn&#8217;t make him happy, so he replaced them with some he had on hand. He also added some pipe tape to stop any leaking.</p>
  186. <p>The first test was a piece of quarter-inch steel at 35 amps. The machine itself is rated to 50 amps. Sparks ensued, and with a little boost in amperage, it made a fair-looking cut. At 50 amps, it was time to try a thicker workpiece. It made the cut, although it wasn&#8217;t beautiful. The leaking regulator and the fact that he can&#8217;t run the compressor simultaneously as the cutter didn&#8217;t help.</p>
  187. <p>From the look of it, for light duty, this would be workable with a little practice and maybe some new fittings. Unsurprisingly, it probably isn&#8217;t as capable as a professional unit. Still could be very handy to have.</p>
  188. <p>It is possible to convert a <a href="https://hackaday.com/2023/10/24/high-voltage-turns-welder-into-plasma-cutter/">welder into a plasma cutter</a>. A handheld unit like this probably won&#8217;t benefit from a <a href="https://hackaday.com/2020/04/10/plasma-cutter-sharpie-is-surprisingly-useful/">Sharpie</a>.</p>
  189. <p><span id="more-673889"></span></p>
  190. <p><iframe loading="lazy" title="Cheap Temu Plasma Cutter. Worth It?" width="800" height="450" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X-peLKTniwQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
  191. ]]></content:encoded>
  193. <wfw:commentRss>https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/plasma-cutter-on-the-cheap-reviewed/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  194. <slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
  197. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">673889</post-id>
  198. <media:thumbnail url="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/plasma.png" />
  199. <media:content url="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/plasma.png" medium="image">
  200. <media:title type="html">plasma</media:title>
  201. </media:content>
  202. </item>
  203. <item>
  204. <title>3D Printing a Cassette Is Good Retro Fun</title>
  205. <link>https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/3d-printing-a-cassette-is-good-retro-fun/</link>
  206. <comments>https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/3d-printing-a-cassette-is-good-retro-fun/#comments</comments>
  208. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Lewin Day]]></dc:creator>
  209. <pubDate>Mon, 15 Apr 2024 18:30:04 +0000</pubDate>
  210. <category><![CDATA[3d Printer hacks]]></category>
  211. <category><![CDATA[3d print]]></category>
  212. <category><![CDATA[cassette]]></category>
  213. <category><![CDATA[tape]]></category>
  214. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://hackaday.com/?p=673958</guid>
  215.  
  216. <description><![CDATA[<div><img width="800" height="450" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/3dpcass_feat.jpg?w=800" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/3dpcass_feat.jpg 800w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/3dpcass_feat.jpg?resize=250,141 250w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/3dpcass_feat.jpg?resize=400,225 400w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" data-attachment-id="673994" data-permalink="https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/3d-printing-a-cassette-is-good-retro-fun/3dpcass_feat/" data-orig-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/3dpcass_feat.jpg" data-orig-size="800,450" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="3dpcass_feat" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/3dpcass_feat.jpg?w=400" data-large-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/3dpcass_feat.jpg?w=800" /></div>The cassette is one of the coolest music formats ever, in that you could chuck them about with abandon and they&#8217;d usually still work. [Chris Borge] recently decided to see <a href="https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/3d-printing-a-cassette-is-good-retro-fun/" class="read-more">&#8230;read more</a>]]></description>
  217. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img width="800" height="450" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/3dpcass_feat.jpg?w=800" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/3dpcass_feat.jpg 800w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/3dpcass_feat.jpg?resize=250,141 250w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/3dpcass_feat.jpg?resize=400,225 400w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" data-attachment-id="673994" data-permalink="https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/3d-printing-a-cassette-is-good-retro-fun/3dpcass_feat/" data-orig-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/3dpcass_feat.jpg" data-orig-size="800,450" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="3dpcass_feat" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/3dpcass_feat.jpg?w=400" data-large-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/3dpcass_feat.jpg?w=800" /></div><p>The cassette is one of the coolest music formats ever, in that you could chuck them about with abandon and they&#8217;d usually still work. [Chris Borge] recently decided to see if he could recreate these plastic audio packages himself, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0a3_SLwcNM" target="_blank">with great success.</a></p>
  218. <p>He kicked off his project by printing some examples of an open source cassette model he found online. The model was nicely accurate to the original Compact Cassette design, but wasn&#8217;t exactly optimized for 3D printing. It required a great deal of support material and wasn&#8217;t easy to customize.</p>
  219. <p>[Chris] ended up splitting the model into multiple components, which could then be assembled with glue later. He then set about customizing the cassette shells with <em>Minecraft</em> artwork. Details of the artwork are baked into the model at varying heights just 1/10th of the total layer height. This makes it easy to designate which sections should be printed with which filament during his multi-colored print. And yet, because the height difference is below a full layer height, the details all end up on the same layer to avoid any ugly gaps between the sections. From there, it&#8217;s a simple matter of transferring over the mechanical parts from an existing cassette tape to make the final thing work.</p>
  220. <p>It&#8217;s a neat trick, and the final results are impressive. [Chris] was able to create multicolored cassettes that look great. It&#8217;s one of the better uses we&#8217;ve seen for a multi-colored printer. This would be an epic way to customize a mixtape for a friend!</p>
  221. <p>We&#8217;ve seen some great 3D printed cassettes before, too, like <a href="https://hackaday.com/2023/01/19/mod-repair-and-maintain-your-cassette-tapes-with-3d-printed-parts/">these retro reel-to-reel lookalikes</a>.</p>
  222. <p><span id="more-673958"></span></p>
  223. <p><iframe loading="lazy" title="Can You 3D Print Cassettes?" width="800" height="450" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/o0a3_SLwcNM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
  224. ]]></content:encoded>
  226. <wfw:commentRss>https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/3d-printing-a-cassette-is-good-retro-fun/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  227. <slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
  230. <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">673958</post-id>
  231. <media:thumbnail url="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/3dpcass_feat.jpg" />
  232. <media:content url="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/3dpcass_feat.jpg" medium="image">
  233. <media:title type="html">3dpcass_feat</media:title>
  234. </media:content>
  235. </item>
  236. <item>
  237. <title>Logic Analyzers: Decoding And Monitoring</title>
  238. <link>https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/logic-analyzers-decoding-and-monitoring/</link>
  239. <comments>https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/logic-analyzers-decoding-and-monitoring/#comments</comments>
  241. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Arya Voronova]]></dc:creator>
  242. <pubDate>Mon, 15 Apr 2024 17:00:24 +0000</pubDate>
  243. <category><![CDATA[Hackaday Columns]]></category>
  244. <category><![CDATA[how-to]]></category>
  245. <category><![CDATA[Tool Hacks]]></category>
  246. <category><![CDATA[logic analyzer]]></category>
  247. <category><![CDATA[protocol decoder]]></category>
  248. <category><![CDATA[pulseview]]></category>
  249. <category><![CDATA[reverse engineering]]></category>
  250. <category><![CDATA[sigrok]]></category>
  251. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://hackaday.com/?p=624435</guid>
  252.  
  253. <description><![CDATA[<div><img width="800" height="484" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Logic.jpg?w=800" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Logic.jpg 3000w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Logic.jpg?resize=250,151 250w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Logic.jpg?resize=400,242 400w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Logic.jpg?resize=800,484 800w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Logic.jpg?resize=1536,929 1536w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Logic.jpg?resize=2048,1239 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" data-attachment-id="587746" data-permalink="https://hackaday.com/logic-17/" data-orig-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Logic.jpg" data-orig-size="3000,1815" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="Logic" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Logic.jpg?w=400" data-large-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Logic.jpg?w=800" /></div>Last time, we looked into using a logic analyzer to decode SPI signals of LCD displays, which can help us reuse LCD screens from proprietary systems, or port LCD driver <a href="https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/logic-analyzers-decoding-and-monitoring/" class="read-more">&#8230;read more</a>]]></description>
  254. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div><img width="800" height="484" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Logic.jpg?w=800" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" style="margin: 0 auto; margin-bottom: 15px;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Logic.jpg 3000w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Logic.jpg?resize=250,151 250w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Logic.jpg?resize=400,242 400w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Logic.jpg?resize=800,484 800w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Logic.jpg?resize=1536,929 1536w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Logic.jpg?resize=2048,1239 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" data-attachment-id="587746" data-permalink="https://hackaday.com/logic-17/" data-orig-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Logic.jpg" data-orig-size="3000,1815" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="Logic" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Logic.jpg?w=400" data-large-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Logic.jpg?w=800" /></div><p>Last time, we looked into <a href="https://hackaday.com/2023/09/12/logic-analyzers-capabilities-and-limitations/">using a logic analyzer to decode SPI signals of LCD displays,</a> which can help us reuse LCD screens from proprietary systems, or port LCD driver code from one platform to another! If you are to do that, however, you might find a bottleneck &#8211; typically, you need to capture a whole bunch of data and then go through it, comparing bytes one by one, which is quite slow. If you have tinkered with Pulseview, you probably have already found an option to export decoded data &#8211; all you need to do is right-click on the decoder output and you&#8217;ll be presented with a bunch of options to export it. Here&#8217;s what you will find:</p>
  255. <p><code>2521888-2521888 I²C: Address/data: Start<br />
  256. 2521896-2521947 I²C: Address/data: Address write: 22<br />
  257. 2521947-2521954 I²C: Address/data: Write<br />
  258. 2521955-2521962 I²C: Address/data: ACK<br />
  259. 2521962-2522020 I²C: Address/data: Data write: 01<br />
  260. 2522021-2522028 I²C: Address/data: ACK<br />
  261. 2522030-2522030 I²C: Address/data: Start repeat<br />
  262. 2522038-2522089 I²C: Address/data: Address read: 22<br />
  263. 2522089-2522096 I²C: Address/data: Read<br />
  264. 2522096-2522103 I²C: Address/data: ACK<br />
  265. 2522104-2522162 I²C: Address/data: Data read: 91<br />
  266. 2522162-2522169 I²C: Address/data: NACK<br />
  267. 2522172-2522172 I²C: Address/data: Stop</code></p>
  268. <p>Whether on the screen or in an exported file, the decoder output is not terribly readable &#8211; depending on the kind of interface you&#8217;re sniffing, be it I2C, UART or SPI, you will get five to ten lines of decoder output for every byte transferred. If you&#8217;re getting large amounts of data from your logic analyzer and you want to actually understand what&#8217;s happening, this quickly will become a problem &#8211; not to mention that scrolling through the Pulseview window is not a comfortable experience.</p>
  269. <p>The above output could look like this: <code>0x22: read 0x01 (  DEV_ID) = 0x91 (0b10010001)</code>. Yet, it doesn&#8217;t, and I want to show you how to correct this injustice. Today, we supercharge Pulseview with a few external scripts, and I&#8217;ll show you how to transfer large amounts of Sigrok decoder output data into beautiful human-readable transaction printouts. While we&#8217;re at it, let&#8217;s also check out commandline sigrok, avoiding the Pulseview UI altogether &#8211; with <code>sigrok-cli</code>, you can easily create a lightweight program that runs in the background and saves all captured data into a text file, or shows it on a screen in realtime!<span id="more-624435"></span></p>
  270. <p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="639990" data-permalink="https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/logic-analyzers-decoding-and-monitoring/hadimg_la_parsing_1/" data-orig-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hadimg_la_parsing_1.jpg" data-orig-size="1000,900" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="hadimg_la_parsing_1" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hadimg_la_parsing_1.jpg?w=400" data-large-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hadimg_la_parsing_1.jpg?w=694" class="alignright wp-image-639990 size-thumbnail" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hadimg_la_parsing_1.jpg?w=250" alt="" width="250" height="225" srcset="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hadimg_la_parsing_1.jpg 1000w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hadimg_la_parsing_1.jpg?resize=250,225 250w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hadimg_la_parsing_1.jpg?resize=400,360 400w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hadimg_la_parsing_1.jpg?resize=694,625 694w" sizes="(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px" />Oh, and while we&#8217;re here, I&#8217;d like to show you a pretty cool thing I&#8217;ve found on Aliexpress! These are <a href="https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005003649856071.html" target="_blank">tiny FX2 boards</a> with the same logic analyzer schematic, so they work with the FX2 open-source firmware and Sigrok &#8211; but they&#8217;re much smaller, have USB-C connectors instead of cable struggle that is miniUSB, and are often even cheaper than the &#8216;plastic case&#8217; FX2 analyzers we&#8217;ve gotten used to. In addition to that, since you can see the exposed PCB, unlike with the &#8216;plastic case&#8217; analyzers, you know whether you&#8217;re getting input buffers or not!</p>
  271. <h2>Boiling It Down</h2>
  272. <p>As an example, let&#8217;s consider <a href="https://github.com/0xAryaCAFE/had_la_parsing" target="_blank">a capture of the I2C bus of the Pinecil soldering iron</a>. On this bus, there&#8217;s three I2C devices &#8211; a 96&#215;16 OLED screen at the address <code>0x3c</code>, an accelerometer at <code>0x18</code>, and the FUSB302B USB-PD PHY at <code>0x22</code>. The FUSB302B is a chip that we remember from the USB-C low-level PD communication articles where we built our own PD trigger board. I could only have written those articles because I got the logic analyzer captures, processed them into transaction printouts, and used those to debug my PD code &#8211; now, you get to learn how to use such captures for your benefit, too.</p>
  273. <p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="639989" data-permalink="https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/logic-analyzers-decoding-and-monitoring/hadimg_la_parsing_2/" data-orig-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hadimg_la_parsing_2.jpg" data-orig-size="4032,3024" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}" data-image-title="hadimg_la_parsing_2" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hadimg_la_parsing_2.jpg?w=400" data-large-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hadimg_la_parsing_2.jpg?w=800" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-639989" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hadimg_la_parsing_2.jpg?w=400" alt="" width="360" height="270" srcset="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hadimg_la_parsing_2.jpg 4032w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hadimg_la_parsing_2.jpg?resize=250,188 250w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hadimg_la_parsing_2.jpg?resize=400,300 400w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hadimg_la_parsing_2.jpg?resize=800,600 800w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hadimg_la_parsing_2.jpg?resize=1536,1152 1536w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hadimg_la_parsing_2.jpg?resize=2048,1536 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px" />If you open the above files in Pulseview &#8211; you will see a whole bunch of I2C traces. I wanted to zone in on the FUSB302, naturally &#8211; accelerometer and OLED communications are also interesting but weren&#8217;t my focus. You will also see that there&#8217;s a protocol decoder called &#8220;I2C filter&#8221; attached. Somehow, it&#8217;s been remarkably useless for me whenever I try to use it, not filtering out anything at all. No matter, though &#8211; right click on the I2C decoder output row (the one that shows decoded bytes and events), click &#8220;Export all annotations for this row&#8221;, pick a filename, then open the file in a text editor.</p>
  274. <p>The view you get is a bit overwhelming &#8211; we get 22,000 lines of text, which is nowhere near the kind of data you could feasibly read through. Of course, most of that is LCD transfer data, and there&#8217;s a fair bit of accelerometer querying, too &#8211; you want to filter out both of these if you want to only see the FUSB302 transactions. Nevertheless, it&#8217;s a good start &#8211; you get a text file that contains all the activity happening on the I2C bus, it&#8217;s just too much text to read through on your own.</p>
  275. <p>Here&#8217;s an example line: <code>2521783-2521834 I²C: Address/data: Address write: 30</code>. This is very easy to process, if you take a closer look at it!  Each line describes an I2C event, and it starts with two timestamps &#8211; event start and event end, separated by <code>-</code> . Then, we get three more values, separated by spaces &#8211; decoder name, decoder event type, and the decoder event itself. This output format can be changed in Pulseview settings, if you&#8217;re so inclined, however, you can easily parse it as-is. For this format, we can simply split the string by space (not splitting further than three spaces), getting a timestamp, decoder name, decoder output type and decoder event.</p>
  276. <p>I&#8217;ll be using Python for parsing, but feel free to translate the code into anything that works for you. Here&#8217;s a bit of Python that reads our file line-by-line and puts the useful parts of every line into variables:</p>
  277. <pre class="brush: python; title: ; notranslate">
  278. with open(&#039;decoded.txt&#039;, &#039;r&#039;) as f:
  279.    line = f.readline()
  280.    while line:
  281.        line = line.strip()
  282.        if not line: # empty line terminates the loop, use `continue` to ignore empty lines instead
  283.            break
  284.        # ignoring decoder name and decoder output type - they don&#039;t change in this case
  285.        tss, _, _, d = line.split(&#039; &#039;, 3)
  286.        [ &quot;do something with this data&quot; ]
  287.        line = f.readline() # get a new line and rerun the loop body
  288. </pre>
  289. <p>Parsing lines of text into event data is simple enough &#8211; from there, we need to group events into I2C transactions. As you can see, a transaction starts with a <code>Start</code> event, which we can use as a marker to separate different transactions within all the events we get. We can do the usual programming tactic &#8211; go through the events, have one &#8220;current transaction&#8221; list that we add new events to, and an &#8220;all transactions so far&#8221; list where we put transactions we&#8217;ve finished processing.</p>
  290. <p>The plan is simple &#8211; in the same loop, we look at the event we get, and if it&#8217;s not a <code>Start</code> event, whether it&#8217;s a write/read/ACK/NACK bit event, or <code>Stop</code>/<code>Start repeat</code> event, we simply put it into the &#8220;current transaction&#8221; list. If we get a new <code>Start</code> event, we consider this &#8220;current transaction&#8221; list finished and add it to our list of received transactions, then start a new &#8220;current transaction&#8221; list. While we&#8217;re at it, we can also parse address and data bytes &#8211; we receive them as strings and we need to parse them as hex digits, unless you change the I2C decoder to output something else.</p>
  291. <p>Here&#8217;s a link to the relevant code section. I could talk more about what it does, for instance, it filters out the FUSB302 transfers by the address, but I&#8217;d like to cut to the chase and show the input lines compared to the output transaction list. You can get this output if you run <code>python -i parse.py</code> and enter <code>tr[0]</code> in the REPL:</p>
  292. <pre class="brush: python; title: ; notranslate">
  293. &amp;gt;&amp;gt;&amp;gt; tr[0]
  294. [&#039;start&#039;, 34, &#039;wr&#039;, &#039;ack&#039;, &#039;wr&#039;, 1, &#039;ack&#039;, &#039;start repeat&#039;, 34, &#039;rd&#039;, &#039;ack&#039;, &#039;rd&#039;, 145, &#039;nack&#039;, &#039;stop&#039;]
  295. </pre>
  296. <p>Now, this is a proper I2C transaction! All of these elements are things we can visually discern in the Pulseview UI. Mind you, this code is tailored towards the FUSB302 transaction parsing, but it should not be hard to modify it so that it singles out and parses accelerometer or OLED transactions instead. From here, it&#8217;s almost enough to simply concatenate the transaction list elements and get a semi-human-readable transaction, but let&#8217;s not stop our ambitions here &#8211; the FUSB302 has documentation available, and we can get to a perfectly readable decoding of what the code actually does!</p>
  297. <p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="639999" data-permalink="https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/logic-analyzers-decoding-and-monitoring/hadimg_la_parsing_3b/" data-orig-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hadimg_la_parsing_3b.png" data-orig-size="395,466" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="hadimg_la_parsing_3b" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hadimg_la_parsing_3b.png?w=339" data-large-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hadimg_la_parsing_3b.png?w=395" class="alignright wp-image-639999 size-medium" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hadimg_la_parsing_3b.png?w=339" alt="" width="339" height="400" srcset="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hadimg_la_parsing_3b.png 395w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hadimg_la_parsing_3b.png?resize=212,250 212w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/hadimg_la_parsing_3b.png?resize=339,400 339w" sizes="(max-width: 339px) 100vw, 339px" />I&#8217;ve scrolled through the datasheet, and put together a Python dictionary with a register address-name mapping. Using that, we can easily go through transactions, mapping them to specific register reads and writes, and convert the raw transaction data into lines of text that clearly tell us &#8211; first, we write this byte to SWITCHES0 register, then we write a this byte into POWER register, and so on. Here&#8217;s the code I wrote to make verbose transactions &#8211; and it helps you turn logic analyzer captures into Python code!</p>
  298. <p>Say, you&#8217;re writing a replacement open-source firmware for something you own, or perhaps you&#8217;re poking around copying the implementation of some protocol for your own purposes, like I copied the Pinecil&#8217;s PD implementation to help me debug my own PD code. Here&#8217;s the cool part &#8211; you can translate this kind of output into your own high-level code near-instantly, to the point where you can even modify this decoding script to output Python or C code! This is just like decompiling, except you get a language of your choice, and a human-readable description of the code&#8217;s external behaviour, which is often what you actually want.</p>
  299. <p>Here&#8217;s how a verbose transaction list looks: <code>[34, '0x22', 1, '0x01 (  DEV_ID)', 'rd', [145], '0x91 (0b10010001)']</code>. And, this is how I can format such a transactions, using a helper function included in the code I&#8217;ve linked:</p>
  300. <pre class="brush: python; title: ; notranslate">
  301. &amp;gt;&amp;gt;&amp;gt; tr_as_upy(transactions[0])
  302. i2c.readfrom_mem(0x22, 0x1) # rd: DEV_ID 0x91 (0b10010001)
  303. &amp;gt;&amp;gt;&amp;gt; tr_as_upy(transactions[1])
  304. i2c.writeinto_mem(0x22, 0xc, b&#039;\x01&#039;) # wr RESET: 0x01 (0b00000001)
  305. </pre>
  306. <p>Such code allows you to rapidly reverse-engineer proprietary and open-source devices, while getting a good grasp on what is it specifically that they do. What more, with such a decoder, you can also write a protocol decoder for Sigrok so that you can easily access it from Pulseview! For instance, if you&#8217;re capturing reads/writes for an I2C EEPROM, there&#8217;s an I2C EEPROM decoder in Sigrok that you can add &#8211; and, there&#8217;s never enough Sigrok decoders, so adding your own decoder to the pile is a wonderful contribution to the open-source logic analysis software that everybody knows and loves.</p>
  307. <h2>Going Further With Commandline</h2>
  308. <p>This decoding approach gives you the most control over your output data, which massively helps if you have to process large amounts of it. You can also debug intricate problems like never before. For instance, I&#8217;ve had to help someone debug a web-based ESP8266 flasher that can&#8217;t flash particular kinds of firmware images properly, and for that, I&#8217;m capturing the UART data being transferred between the PC and the ESP8266.</p>
  309. <p>There&#8217;s a problem with such capturing, too &#8211; during flashing, the UART baudrate changes, with the bootloader baudrate being 76800, the flashing baudrate being 468000, and the software baudrate being 115200. As a result, you can&#8217;t pull off the usual trick where you connect a USB-UART adapter&#8217;s RX pin to your data bus and have it stream data to a serial terminal window on your monitor. Well, with granular control over how you process data captured by the logic analyzer, you don&#8217;t have to bother with that!</p>
  310. <figure id="attachment_673564" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-673564" style="width: 323px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="673564" data-permalink="https://hackaday.com/2024/04/15/logic-analyzers-decoding-and-monitoring/hadimg_la_parsing_4_4bc504/" data-orig-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/hadimg_la_parsing_4_4bc504.png" data-orig-size="635,786" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}" data-image-title="" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/hadimg_la_parsing_4_4bc504.png?w=323" data-large-file="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/hadimg_la_parsing_4_4bc504.png?w=505" class="wp-image-673564 size-medium" src="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/hadimg_la_parsing_4_4bc504.png?w=323" alt="" width="323" height="400" srcset="https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/hadimg_la_parsing_4_4bc504.png 635w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/hadimg_la_parsing_4_4bc504.png?resize=202,250 202w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/hadimg_la_parsing_4_4bc504.png?resize=323,400 323w, https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/hadimg_la_parsing_4_4bc504.png?resize=505,625 505w" sizes="(max-width: 323px) 100vw, 323px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-673564" class="wp-caption-text">Bytes received at 76800 marked in orange, bytes received at 11500 marked in greed; the exact commandline visible in the screenshot, too!</figcaption></figure>
  311. <p>The idea is &#8211; you connect a logic analyzer to the data bus, and stack two UART decoders onto the same pin! Each decoder is going to throw error messages whenever the current signal is on a different baudrate than the decoder&#8217;s expected one. Now, Sigrok being a reasonably modular and open-source project, you can absolutely write a UART decoder for Sigrok that works with multiple baudrates. If you&#8217;re like me and don&#8217;t want to do that, you can also go the lazy way about it and mash the output of two decoders together in realtime, using error messages as guidance on where the switch occured!</p>
  312. <p>For this kind of purpose, having realtime and text-only processing of Sigrok-produced data is more than enough. Thankfully, the FX2 analyzers let you capture data indefinitely, and Sigrok commandline lets you stack protocol decoders that will then run in realtime! So, <a href="https://github.com/0xAryaCAFE/had_la_parsing/blob/main/livedecode.py" target="_blank">I&#8217;ve made a script</a> that you can pipe <code>sigrok-cli</code> output into, which compares decoder output to figure out which baudrate is currently being used, and outputs data from the decoder with the least faults. The code&#8217;s missing a smarter buffering algo, so the switching-between-baudrates moment is a bit troublesome, as you can see in the screenshot, but it&#8217;s working otherwise!</p>
  313. <p>With this Sigrok commandline approach, you gain one more logic analyzer superpower! Since FX2 analyzers let you capture data indefinitely, streaming it to your PC as it is captured, a commandline decoder lets you wire up a FX2 analyzer to a Pi Zero &#8211; so you can build a tiny device capturing and decoding a data bus 24/7. Set the FX2 and Pi Zero combo near whatever you&#8217;re trying to tap into, run sigrok, have it save data with timestamps onto an SD card, and you can collect weeks of bus activity data easily! This is the kind of capability I wish I had when I was tasked with reverse-engineering a special piece of industrial machinery, controlled over CAN and using a semi-proprietary communication algorithm; having lots of data seriously helps in such scenarios and I was struggling to capture enough.</p>
  314. <p>If you&#8217;d rather keep to low-depth GUI experiments, this kind of parsing is useful too &#8211; Sigrok protocol decoders are written in Python, which means you can also take your Python output-parsing code and turn it into Pulseview-accessible protocol decoder reasonably easily. All in all, this kind of experimentation lets you squeeze as much as possible out of even the cheapest logic analyzers out there. In the next article, I&#8217;d like to go more in-depth through other kinds of logic analyzers we have available &#8211; especially all the the cheap options. Given that Sigrok <a href="https://github.com/sigrokproject/libsigrok/pull/181" target="_blank">has recently merged the PR with support for the Pi Pico</a>, there&#8217;s a fair bit you can get beyond what the FX2-based analyzers have to offer!</p>
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