HackSpace #77

Computers have cold, hard, silicon brains, while we’re squishy sacks of meat. In order for us to use these machines, we need a way of connecting our neurons with the computer’s transistors, and until we poke wires directly into our craniums, we need buttons, lasers, sliders, joysticks, and other sensors. Press a button to close a contact, twiddle a knob to change the resistance, gaze into the unblinking stare of an OLED. These are the boundaries between man and machine. If we want to get the most out of our symbiotic relationship with silicon, we have to optimise this boundary. This month, we’re looking at how we can build our own interfaces to bridge this divide and make our computers as responsive as possible to our thoughts. Let’s hack this…

hsmag.cc/CatTV My old pet dog (RIP Henry) used to love nature programs; he’d show a special interest in anything featuring lions. He’d raise his head, stretch a little, and imagine himself out there on the savannah with them. Apparently, some people prefer cats to dogs, and if you’re one of them, you might want to give your furry housemate something to watch. YouTube is reassuringly full of pet-oriented content, and Becky Stern has crafted a delightfully simple device to stream reassuring scenes of birds and squirrels to pique her cats’ interest. She’s kept it simple: it uses a 5-inch capacitive touch LCD screen, a Raspberry Pi, a USB speaker, mouse and keyboard, and a 3D-printed enclosure. Even this was one feature too many – the cats kept pawing at the…

hsmag.cc/DAST In the northern hemisphere, spring is on its way. The days are getting longer, and warmth bathes the land. It’s the perfect time to dabble in solar power! Tim Ritson, like everybody in New Zealand, is exactly six months ahead of us, and he’s already had the chance to develop this dualaxis solar tracker, which rotates and pivots a solar panel to maximise the amount of light it collects during the day. Tim used extruded aluminium for the frame of the tracker, as it’s soft enough to cut and drill (slightly too soft, as steel bolts will strip aluminium threads very easily if you’re not careful) while offering you plenty of strength without too much weight. Tim used parts from his local hardware shop, electronics store, and AliExpress. The…

hsmag.cc/HOMS You can buy a box of ten RP2040 microprocessors for £9. You just need a couple of minutes to visit the Pimoroni or The Pi Hut website and enter your credit card details. Depending on your location, it can take a day or two for the delivery to arrive. It’s easy. Too easy for Panos Papazoglou! He’s made a fully functional microprocessor out of discrete bits of hardware. The registers that would normally be etched at microscopic level into silicon are here replaced with Arduinos, with added displays so the user can see what’s going on at any given time in any part of the device. It’s brilliantly geeky, and a superb way of visualising what’s going on inside a processor for anyone who’s looked at a chip and…

hsmag.cc/MovingPixelClock “Clock projects are cool. LED projects are cool, too. And if it moves, all the better. So why not build a moving pixel LED mechatronics clock?” With this thought began Erich Styger’s 18-month development of the Moving Pixel Clock. More accurately, the project began when Erich spotted a bunch of tiny stepper motors for sale online. They came with no instructions, no datasheet, and no information at all other than the name – ‘Mini stepper motor @5V’. They have a travel of around 10mm, which takes around two seconds, and Erich thought it would be a good idea to use them to add some interest to a digital clock display. The final build comprises five stacked PCBs housing the stepper motors and stepper motor drivers; each PCB has 16…

hsmag.cc/TypeWriter Reddit user CertifiedWerewolf (aka Ryan) wanted a distraction-free, light, portable typewriter – something very like the Freewrite Traveler, in fact, but without the £483 price tag. So, he put together a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, a Waveshare 4.2-inch e-paper display, a PiSugar 3 battery and a custom-made 3D-printed case, and a keyboard he already had, and made his own for a princely $90. We love how simple this build is: the clean lines, the minimalist design, and the ethos of doing one thing and one thing well. The fact that it’s homemade, and Ryan has shared the code for it on GitHub, makes it even better.…