Sega Meganet: Online Gaming In 1990

https://invidious.privacyredirect.com/watch?v=R3RsmtGFXk8

It’s easy to think of online console gaming as an invention of the 2000s. Microsoft made waves when Xbox Live dropped in 2002, with Nintendo and Sony scrambling to catch up with their own offerings that were neither as sleek or well-integrated.

However, if you were around a decade earlier, you might have experienced online console gaming much closer to the dawn of the Internet era. As far back as 1990, you could jump online with your Sega Mega Drive. But what did an online console feel like in the dial-up era?

The Sega Mega Drive was launched in Japan in October...

Anything Can Be A Router, If You Try Hard Enough

If you’re an American and you use the Internet at home, it seems probable that routers are going to be in short supply. The US government recently mandated all such devices be home grown for security reasons, which would be fine were it not that the US has next-to-no consumer-grade router manufacturing industry.

So if you’re in the US and you need a router, what can you do? [Noah Bailey] is here from Canada to point out that almost anything (within reason) in computer terms can be made to perform as a router.

The piece is really a guide to setting up...

Ask Hackaday: How Much Compute is Enough?

Over the history of this business, a lot of people have foreseen limits that look rather silly in hindsight– in 1943, IBM President Thomas Watson declared that “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” That was more than a little wrong. Depending on the definition of computers– particularly if you include microcontrollers, there’s probably trillions of the things.

We might as well include microcontrollers, considering how often we see projects replicating retrocomputers on them. The RP2350 can do a Mac 128k, and the ESP32-P4 gets you into the Quadra era. Which, honestly, covers the majority of daily...

Nuvoton NuMicro M3331 Cortex-M33 MCU features built-in ARGB LED controller, optional USB 2.0 OTG interface

Nuvoton’s new NuMicro M3331 is a series of 32-bit Arm Cortex-M33 MCUs clocked at 180 MHz that integrate an ARGB LED controller, a DSP instruction set, a single-precision FPU, and TrustZone security for smart factories, renewable energy systems, and consumer devices. In the past, we have written about other Cortex-M33 MCUs like the STM32U3B5/C5, Texas Instruments MSPM33C321A,  Nordic Semi’s nRF54LM20A, and various others, but the Nuvoton M3331 series specifically features a built-in Enhanced LED Light Strip Interface (ELLSI) and up to 10 standard LLSI channels. This allows the MCU to natively support gaming ARGB Gen1 and Gen2 LED control protocols,...

Pixel Camera Puts Lo-Fi Images In The Palm Of Your Hand

Some things have an undeniable appeal, and lo-fi, pixelated Game Boy-camera-like images are one of them. In service of this, [Raul Zanardo] created his handheld pixel camera that goes the extra mile. It implements slick real-time pixel art filters and a number of other useful features.

For hardware, [Raul] uses a LilyGo T-Display S3 Pro which is an ESP32-based development board, camera, and color touchscreen display in a handheld form factor that vaguely resembles a chunky smartphone. The only change is swapping the stock camera for an OV3660-based camera...

OpenTitan Big Number (OTBN) Accelerator Hardware Extensions for Post-Quantum Cryptography – Extended Design Rationale

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Mekotronics R57-5S – Rockchip RK3576 mini PC and digital player integrates inclined 5-inch touchscreen display

Mekotronics is known for its unusual Rockchip devices, and the R57-5S is a Rockchip RK3576 mini PC for kiosks and digital signage applications with a built-in, inclined 5-inch touchscreen display. The system ships with up to 16GB LPDDR5, up to 128GB eMMC flash, or up to 1TB UFS flash. It also features an M.2 socket for storage or an AI accelerator, HDMI 2.1 and USB-C DP video outputs, a 4K-capable HDMI input port, dual GbE, WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.1, optional 4G LTE, a few USB ports, and a terminal block with RS232 and RS485 interfaces. MekotronicsR57-5S specifications: SoC –...

Post-Failure Autopsy and Analysis of an LFP Battery

https://invidious.privacyredirect.com/watch?v=jPVTd8nui04

Recently [Kerry Wong] had one of his Cyclenbatt LiFePO4 batteries die after only a few dozen cycles, with a normal voltage still present on the terminals. One of the symptoms was that as soon as you try to charge it, the voltage goes up very rapidly to above 14 V due to what appears to be high internal resistance, and vice versa for discharging. In addition, the Bluetooth feature of the BMS appeared to have died as well, making non-invasive diagnostics somewhat tricky.

After gently cutting open the plastic case, [Kerry] was greeted by...

Raspberry Pi CM5 TV Stick Lite Adapts Compute Module 5 for HDMI Dongle Use

A compact carrier board referred to as the Raspberry Pi CM5 TV Stick Lite adapts the Compute Module 5 into a plug-in HDMI form factor. The design allows the module to connect directly to a display while requiring only USB-C power. The board targets portable or embedded use cases where minimizing cabling is a priority. […]

Every 3D Printable Film Camera, In One Place

For those of us who hack old cameras, the 3D printer has undoubtedly been a boon. High precision, or at least consistent precision, lightproof enclosures can be easily made and reproduced for others. As a result there are quite a few printable cameras out there, and we’ve featured our share here. We didn’t realize just how many there are without the work of [Sebastian] though, as he’s gathered together every one he can find in a glorious catalog of homemade photographic construction.

As a snapshot of the world of home made cameras it’s refreshing to see such a wide range of...