Gadget Factory

Hacks

  • DIY 8-Bit Computer Using An FPGA and Classic Computer CPUs In VHDL

    We found a pretty unique project that was covered recently over at Hackaday, involving a hacked-together 8-bit retro-styled computer.  The kicker here is that it was made using an FPGA combined with  VHDL inplementations of classic CPUs such as the 6502, 6809, and Z80. In its full configuration, the Multicomp, as [Grant] calls his project, includes…

  • Hacked, MIDI-Enabled Dot Matrix Printer Plays “Eye Of The Tiger”

    Woah, this is nuts. I remember my dot matrix printer from back in the day. I remember that it simply made a lot of racket, and what a pain it was to have to tear the feeder strips off of each side of the printed pages… Fast forward to 2014 (like only a week ago),…

  • Getting An Old Digital O-Scope To Output To A Computer Monitor

    Michael over at AcidBourbon recently got his mitts on an older (circa 1990) digital oscilloscope and wanted to see if he could hack a way to plot the screen from the ‘scope on his computer. The unit he’s hacking is the GOULD 4094, 200MHz digital storage oscilloscope with four input channels. With no proprietary software…

  • One Guy’s Endeavor Into Grading Microamps & Milliamps At A 3 MHz Bandwidth

    Recently I needed to actually “see” a current waveform in the 100 uA to 5 mA range with at least a couple MHz bandwidth. This extremely expensive probe would have been perfect, but instead I built something similar for about $30 using the amazing Analog Devices AD8428 amplifier. Rather than buying an extremely costly o-scope…

  • Salvaging Li-Ion Batteries To Power Your Projects

    We found a cool article about salvaging lithium-ion batteries that you thought were totally dead, and how to reuse them for your embedded projects. The idea comes to us by way of Embedds.com, and in their write-up, they describe some of the ways one can tap into the power that is still left in one…

  • VGA Out Hacked Into Virtual Boy Console Using FPGA

    Here’s a new one. Retro game console enthusiast and hardware hacker Furrtek created a great hack with his Nintendo Virtual Boy 3D console. He knew the Virtual Boy didn’t have a stock video output so he decided to use his Altera DE-1 FPGA board to make his own. One problem though – he wanted to…

  • Bitcoin Mining On A Repurposed FPGA

    Here’s a cool hack. Taylor Killian was on Reddit one day and came across a post that gave him an idea. Long story short, he found an HDMI color processing board (make/model: eeColor Color3) on Newegg for *free* after rebate. This device just happens to contain an FPGA – an Altera Cyclone 4, 30K logic element…

  • Screen Recycling: Papilio Driving A Junker LCD Screen

    Papilio user James wrote in on the the forums about his LCD display project that he has been working on.  James is using his Papilio, a junked old Epson EG2401 monochrome LCD display, and a buffer board that he built from scratch.  It’s similar to another junked display project that we posted a while ago, yet…