Retro and Open Hardware/Modding: Atari, KVMs, Raspberry Pi, and ESP32
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Andrew Hutchings ☛ Atari 800XL: Restoration Part 1
When I was a teenager, one of the last 8bit machines I acquired was an Atari XEGS. This was a pretty cool machine, even if it was way out of date when I got it. I decided I needed an Atari of similar era for my collection, and along came an Atari 800XL.
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Ruben Schade ☛ Always buy old KVMs with cables
Lesson learned: there’s a reason old KVMs are so cheap! Make sure you source and factor in the cost of cables into whatever unit you buy. The more expensive one with cables is probably the better deal, or at least much less hassle.
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Raspberry Pi ☛ Turn an old phone into a robotic personal assistant | HackSpace #73
The bell in the telephone was originally driven by two coils powered by a 75-volt alternating current signal with a frequency of around 18Hz. The coils move a bell-clapper left and right between two metal bells tuned to different musical notes. The author was very keen to retain the distinctive ring, but less keen on getting 75 volts up his armpits when assembling the phone. So, rather than using 75 volts AC, he opted to use a much less tingly 35-volt supply, using software to drive each coil in turn. Two MOSFET controllers were used, one for each bell. These are connected to general-purpose input/output (GPIO) pins on the Raspberry Pi which are controlled by JavaScript running the phone.
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Linux Gizmos ☛ LILYGO’s ESP32-based module comes with 2.41” AMOLED display
The LILYGO T4 S3 is a small IoT module that supports 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi & Bluetooth 5 (LE) and it’s equipped with a 2.41” AMOLED display with capacitive touchscreen capabilities. This open-source board was designed for developers and hobbyists since it also supports Arduino and MicroPython.