3D Printing a Telescope is Rewarding, Even if Not Always Cheaper

What can one expect from 3D printing an 8″ Newtonian telescope? [Molly Wakeling] shares her thoughts after doing exactly that. The performance was on par with any solid 8″ telescope, but in the end it wasn’t really any cheaper than purchasing a manufactured unit. Does that mean it wasn’t worth it? Not at all!

[Molly] makes the excellent observation that the process of printing and building one’s own telescope is highly educational and rewarding. Also, the end result is modular, user-serviceable, and customizable in a way that many commercial offerings can only dream of. It’s a great conversation starter with other...

Fanless MS-CF19 3.5-inch SBC Uses Intel Meteor Lake-U and Arrow Lake-U

The MS-CF19 is a 3.5-inch single-board computer designed for fanless embedded systems using Intel Core Ultra Series 1 (Meteor Lake-U) and Series 2 (Arrow Lake-U) processors. It supports DDR5 memory, up to four independent displays, dual Ethernet, and multiple M.2 expansion options in a compact form factor. Processor options include Core Ultra 5 and Core […]

39C3: Recreating Sandstorm

Some synthesizer sounds are just catchy, but some of them are genre-defining. We think you could make that case for the Roland JP-8000 patch “Sandstorm”, which you’ve heard if you listened to any trance from the 90’s, but especially the song that was named after it.

“Sandstorm” is powered by the Roland Supersaw, and synth nerds have argued for a decade about how it’s made. The JP-8000 is a digital synthesizer, though, so it’s just code, run through custom DSP chips. If you could reverse engineer these chips, make a virtual machine, and send them the right program, you could get...

Different Algorithms Sort Christmas Lights

Sorting algorithms are a common exercise for new programmers, and for good reason: they introduce many programming fundamentals at once, including loops and conditionals, arrays and lists, comparisons, algorithmic complexity, and the tradeoff between correctness and performance. As a fun Christmas project, [Scripsi] set out to implement twelve different sorting algorithms over twelve days, using Christmas lights as the sorting medium.

The lights in use here are strings of WS2812 addressable LED strips, with the program set up to assign random hue values to each of the lights in the string. From there, an RP2040-based platform will step through the array...

Новый инерциальный MEMS-датчик LSM6DSV320X от ST c искусственным интеллектом для распознавания активности и ударов

Инерциальные модули (IMU, Inertial Measurement Unit) выполненные в виде MEMS-датчиков давно используются в смартфонах, игровых контроллерах, носимых устройствах, и т.д. В такой модуль входит акселерометр и гироскоп, вся обработка выполняется на основном процессоре смартфона или микроконтроллера. Для обработки поступающих данных от инерциального модуля, процессор должен быть постоянно в состояние активности. Например, для носимой электроники данный фактор не позволит отправить основной процессор в спящий режим. Вторая проблема заключается в большом лаге между наступлением события и реакции. Например, если необходимо обрабатывать события удара, пока ОС обработает поступающие данные и сделает вывод об ударе, времени на реакцию будет немного. Для решения указанных задач,...

Open-source hardware USB to GPIB adapter connects legacy GPIB/IEEE-488 instruments to modern hosts

XyphroLabs’s UsbGpib is an open-source hardware, inexpensive, and portable USB to GPIB adapter aiming to provide “access to legacy GPIB/IEEE-488 instruments using contemporary hardware and software, with a focus on accessibility, openness, and ease of integration into current workflows”. Initially developed by Hewlett-Packard in the late 1960s/early 1970s, GPIB (General Purpose Interface Bus), also known as IEEE-488 or initially HP-IB (Hewlett-Packard Interface Bus), is a short-range digital communications bus standard designed for connecting and controlling programmable electronic test and measurement instruments such as oscilloscopes, multimeters, and power supplies to computers or controllers. The UsbGpib project helps connect GBIP-compliant equipment to...

LoRa, BLE, and GNSS tracker supports open-source software, solar charging, outdoor and indoor tracking

Designed by Ruictec in China, the TD04 is a LoRa-based low-power tracker that also features BLE and dual-band GNSS. It supports both indoor and outdoor positioning, and is suitable for fleet management, asset tracking, and geofencing over public or private LoRaWAN networks with minimal maintenance. The device combines GNSS (L1/L5) for outdoor positioning with BLE-based indoor tracking. It automatically switches between the two to optimize accuracy and power usage, delivering around 1–2 m accuracy outdoors and 2–4 m indoors. It is LoRaWAN 1.0.3-compliant, supports OTAA and ABP, and operates across multiple regional bands (EU868, US915, IN865, AS923, and others). Other...

Rockchip RK628D based HDMI-to-MIPI-CSI board converts HDMI video into camera feed for embedded systems

The Firefly HDMI-to-MIPI-CSI converter board converts an HDMI video and audio source into a MIPI-CSI camera stream for supported Rockchip SoCs, which is the complete opposite of the Olimex MIPI-HDMI adapter that converts MIPI DSI display signals to HDMI output. Built around the Rockchip RK628D video bridge chip, the board supports HDMI 1.4/2.0 input with 8-bit and 10-bit video, RGB888 and YUV420 color formats, and resolutions up to 4K @ 60fps. On the output side, it provides a MIPI-CSI interface compliant with MIPI D-PHY v1.2, with video output in YUV422 color format, supporting resolutions up to 4K @ 30fps. Audio...

Forlinx FET1126Bx-S low-power Rockchip RV1126BJ industrial SoM powers SBC with 40-pin GPIO header

Forlinx has recently released the FET1126Bx-S, a low-power SoM, which is based on the Rockchip RV1126B (commercial) or RV1126BJ (industrial) SoC. Designed for edge AI applications, the module is suitable for smart cameras, AIoT gateways, and intelligent monitoring systems where local video analytics, low power consumption, and long-term stability are required. It is easy to confuse the newer RV1126B/RV1126BJ with the original Rockchip RV1126, a 32-bit Cortex-A7-based SoC announced around 2020–2021. However, the newer RV1126B/BJ comes with a significant architectural upgrade with a 64-bit quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor (instead of the original 32-bit quad-core Cortex-A7) and a more powerful 3.0...

Bit-Brick Cluster K1 – A 4-slot RISC-V cluster board for SpacemiT K1-based SSOM-K1 system-on-module

Bit-Brick Cluster K1 is a cluster board designed to mount up to four SSOM-K1 system-on-modules powered by a SpacemiT K1 octa-core RISC-V processor. The board targets developers, researchers, and system integrators working on edge computing, AI workloads, and high-performance embedded applications. The Cluster K1 relies on an onboard Gigabit Ethernet switch chip to interconnect four core boards, giving each board an independent network port for fast and stable inter-node communication with automatic IP assignment. Other key features include USB 3.0/2.0 ports, HDMI output (master slot only), a USB Type-C debug port, an M.2 M-Key slot for storage expansion, a 3-pin fan...