Open Hardware, Modding, and Linux Devices
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Tao Security Blog ☛ Retrieving Deleted Files on the Commodore C64 in 1987
When I was a sophomore in high school, from 1987 to 1988, my friend Paul and I had Commodore C64 computers. There was a new graphical user interface called GEOS that had transformed the way we interacted with our computers. We used the C64 to play games but also write papers for school.
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JCS ☛ Adding a USB Port to the ThinkPad X1 Nano (the Hard Way) - joshua stein
I wanted to add an internal USB port to my ThinkPad X1 Nano which should have been a fairly easy thing to do, but it wasn't.
Of course, if I were still using my Framework Laptop it would be as easy as plugging in a custom module but I've been using my X1 Nano as my primary laptop for quite some time now.
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Ken Shirriff ☛ Inside a vintage aerospace navigation computer of uncertain purpose
I recently obtained an aerospace computer from the early 1970s, apparently part of a navigation system. Aerospace computers are an interesting but mostly neglected area of computer hardware, so I'm always delighted to examine one up close. In an era when most computers were large mainframes, aerospace computers packed dense electronics into a small package, using technologies such as surface-mounted components and multi-layer printed circuit boards, technologies that wouldn't reach the mainstream for another decade. This blog post examines the circuitry and components inside this computer, including an unusual electromechanical display. Although I was unable to determine who manufactured this system or even its exact function, this system illustrates how hundreds of integrated circuits and a core memory stack can be crammed into a compact package.
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Chris Aldrich ☛ Acquisition: 1950 Remington All-New Portable Typewriter
Mine came with only one original Remington ribbon core (ring) and one ribbon cover. The matching set were missing, but a prior enterprising owner had tied the (now dried) black ribbon into the auto-reverse mechanism on the left hand side to jury-rig the ribbon set up. Fortunately I have an extra spool sitting around, though I’ve opted to use a plastic universal spool with a removable core to be able to properly spool up new ribbon (blue/green bichrome) onto it.
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Arduino ☛ Check out these Arduino-powered research projects from CHI 2024
Held in Hawaii this year, the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) hosted its annual conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) that focuses on the latest developments in human-computer interaction. Students from universities all across the world attended the event and showcased how their devices and control systems could revolutionize how we interact with technology in both the real-world and virtual environments. These 12 projects presented at CHI 2024 feature Arduino at their core and demonstrate how versatile the hardware can be.
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Linux Gizmos ☛ ZOTAC ZBOX PRO Series: External GPU Boxes Featuring NVIDIA RTX Ada Generation Professional-Grade GPUs
ZOTAC has recently launched the ZBOX PRO External Graphics Box series, engineered to enhance the graphics and computing performance of Mini PCs and notebooks. The series includes three models, with the EGB AD5000 featuring up to 9728 CUDA cores.