Open Hardware: Reverse-engineering, Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and More
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Ken Shirriff ☛ Reverse-engineering Ethernet backoff on the Intel 82586 network chip's die
Introduced in 1973, Ethernet is the predominant way of wiring computers together. Chips were soon introduced to handle the low-level aspects of Ethernet: converting data packets into bits, implementing checksums, and handling network collisions. In 1982, Intel announced the i82586 Ethernet LAN coprocessor chip, which went much further by offloading most of the data movement from the main processor to an on-chip coprocessor. Modern Ethernet networks handle a gigabit of data per second or more, but at the time, the Intel chip's support for 10 Mb/s Ethernet put it on the cutting edge. (Ethernet was surprisingly expensive, about $2000 at the time, but expected to drop under $1000 with the Intel chip.) In this blog post, I focus on a specific part of the coprocessor chip: how it handles network collisions and implements exponential backoff.
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Olimex ☛ RT1010-Py is our fastest board running MicroPython with Cortex-M7 @ 500Mhz i.e. about 4 times faster than RP2040-PICO
There is completely MicroPython support with software and hardware I2Cs and SPI2, onewire buttons etc.
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J Pieper ☛ moteus_tool –restore-config
For the moteus brushless controller, the moteus_tool utility has long had a --dump-config command line action which will cause the entire contents of the configuration to be written to standard output.
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Raspberry Pi ☛ Available now: The Official Raspberry Pi Beginner’s Guide, 5th Edition
It was not long ago that we announced the availability of the latest generation of our flagship product, Raspberry Pi 5. Today, we’re delighted to announce the latest edition of the flagship book about our flagship product, The Official Raspberry Pi Beginner’s Guide by Gareth Halfacree. Now in its fifth edition, you’ll find new coverage of Raspberry Pi 5, Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, and the most recent version of Raspberry Pi OS. Gareth even included a bonus chapter that covers Raspberry Pi Pico and Pico W!
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Raspberry Pi Powers Smart Kitchen Display
Stanislav Khromov is using a Raspberry Pi to power his custom smart kitchen display which features several cool dashboards.
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Hackaday ☛ Raspberry Pi OS In-Place Upgrades, Not For The Faint Hearted
The Raspberry Pi series of boards are noted for their good software support, with a continuous flow of operating system upgrades such that an original Pi from 2012 will still boot the latest Pi OS. But these upgrades are best done by writing a fresh SD card, so oddly, the Pi remains surprisingly difficult in many cases to upgrade in place. [Iustin Pop] has taken a look at the problem, and finds that though it’s not always easy it remains possible with a bit or work.
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Hackaday ☛ 2023 Halloween Hackfest: Spooky Noise Maker Is Self-Contained
We just love it when y’all build off of each other’s projects. This spooky Halloween noise maker from [C.M. Herron] is no exception. But while the projects we’ve seen lately rely on external computers and/or guitar pedals to create the effects part of the build, this one has everything running on a Raspberry Pi that sits inside the box.
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Arduino ☛ Parametric Haptics via generic actuation
Unlike the complex “universal” haptic devices that we normally see, each device in the Parametric Haptics collection suits only a small subset of possible tactile sensations. The device that simulates the feeling of dog’s fur, for example, is distinct from the device that simulates tree bark. However, similar textures, like dog’s fur and shaggy carpet, might share the same device.