Introducing the Bantam Tools NextDraw™

Bantam Tools proudly unveils its latest advancement in proven plotter technology with the launch of the new Bantam Tools NextDraw series of drawing and handwriting machines. Engineered for artists, innovators, and educators seeking exceptional versatility and performance, Bantam Tools now offers a trio of new models designed for drawing and handwriting.

“The Evil Mad Scientist team have brought their engineering prowess to Bantam Tools and the new Bantam Tools NextDraw series are proven creative tools that set a new standard in plotters. The Bantam Tools NextDraw series of plotters are exceptional computer controlled machines for innovators.” says Bre Pettis, CEO...

Talking to memory: Inside the Intel 8088 processor's bus interface state machine

In 1979, Intel introduced the 8088 microprocessor, a variant of the 16-bit 8086 processor. IBM's decision to use the 8088 processor in the IBM PC (1981) was a critical point in computer history, leading to the success of the x86 architecture. The designers of the IBM PC selected the 8088 for multiple reasons, but a key factor was that the 8088 processor's 8-bit bus was similar to the bus of the 8085 processor.1 The designers were familiar with the 8085 since they had selected it for the IBM System/23 Datamaster, a now-forgotten desktop computer, making the more-powerful 8088 processor an easy choice for the IBM PC.

The 8088...

An interview with Interaction Designer Arthur Carabott Part I

An interview with interaction designer Arthur Carabott who describes how he came to work on the Olympics and how he ended up moving from London to LA.

The post An interview with Interaction Designer Arthur Carabott Part I appeared first on Music Hackspace.

New Products – Spring 2024

As always, the Crystalfontz team has been working to bring you new and exciting display solutions. This update includes a family of modules designed to integrate with the Raspberry Pi CM4, some transparent LCDs, a family of 2.8″ TFTs, and a few updates to products to ensure long availability with minimal design changes required.

New to our product line are two beautiful displays designed to work quickly and easily with the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4. These displays are crisp 5″ displays with 720×1280 resolution and in-plane switching (IPS). These modules include easy mounting for compute module,...

Implementing Neural Networks on the “10-cent” RISC-V MCU without Multiplier

I have been meaning for a while to establish a setup to implement neural network based algorithms on smaller microcontrollers. After reviewing existing solutions, I felt there is no solution that I really felt comfortable with. One obvious issue is that often flexibility is traded for overhead. As always, for a really optimized solution you have to roll your own. So I did. You can find the project here and a detailed writeup here.

It is always easier to work with a clear challenge: I picked the CH32V003 as my target platform. This is the smallest RISC-V microcontroller...

A Q&A with AI regulator Ed Newton-Rex

In November last year, Ed Newton-Rex, the head of audio at Stability AI, left the company citing a small but significant difference in his philosophy towards training large language models (LLMs).

The post A Q&A with AI regulator Ed Newton-Rex appeared first on Music Hackspace.

Setting Up Your EVE Display: A Quick Guide

Have you just purchased one of our Embedded Video Engine (EVE) displays and are wondering how to get up and running? This blog post aims to help users get started with their newly received EVE displays from setting up the hardware to running various demos. Before we jump in, if you have not already, take a moment to read our blog post on FTDI/Bridgetek Embedded Video Engine (EVE) Modules to get an idea of the various functionalities that the EVE makes possible and what makes them so great!

This section outlines how users need to interface an EVE...

Music in the browser or app?

At some point, your inspirational idea for digital music will have to travel from the platonic realm of your thoughts, into either an app or browser. Unless you can luxuriate in doing both, this represents a stark choice.

The post Music in the browser or app? appeared first on Music Hackspace.

Gradual migration of IP address/port between servers

I'm a strong proponent of self-hosting all your services, if not on your own hardware than at least on dedicated rented hardware. For IT nerds of my generation, this has been the norm sicne the early 1990s: If you wante to run your own webserver/mailserver/... back then, the only way was to self-host.

So over the last 30 years, I've always been running a fleet of machines, some my own hardware colocated, and during the past ~18 years also some rented dedicated "root servers". They run a plethora of services for either my personal stuff (like this blog, or my personal email server),...

Wuthering Bytes and OSHCamp Dates Confirmed, as the Call for Participation Opens

The dates for this year’s Wuthering Bytes festival and the Open Source Hardware Camp (OSHCamp) have been announced, with a call for participation now open.

This year the Wuthering Bytes festival will be taking place in Hebden Bridge from Friday the 23rd to Saturday the 31st of August inclusive – staring with the popular Festival Day on the Friday and then expanding to host additional events throughout the weekend.

These events include, as always, the Open Source Hardware Camp (OSHCamp), which will be taking place on the Saturday and Sunday as part of the wider festival schedule. The call for participation in...