The BSides: More Curious Uses Of Off-the-shelf Parts

Off-the-shelf stock parts are the blocks from which we build mechanical projects. And while plenty of parts have dedicated uses, I enjoy reusing them in ways that challenge what they were originall…

PCIe For Hackers: Extracting The Most

So, you now know the basics of approaching PCIe, and perhaps you have a PCIe-related goal in mind. Maybe you want to equip a single-board computer of yours with a bunch of cheap yet powerful PCIe W…

PCIe For Hackers: The Diffpair Prelude

PCIe, also known as PCI-Express, is a highly powerful interface. So let’s see what it takes to hack on something that powerful. PCIe is be a bit intimidating at first, however it is reasonabl…

A Hacker’s Introduction To DIY Light Guide Plates

Last year, I found myself compelled to make a scaled-down replica of the iconic test chamber signs from the video game Portal. If you’ve played the game, you’ll remember these signs as …

Laptop Motherboard? Let’s Boot And Tinker

Last time, I’ve shared my experience on why you might want to consider a laptop motherboard for a project of yours, and noted some things you might want to keep in mind if buying one for a pr…

Laptop Motherboard? No, X86 Single-Board Computer!

Sometimes a Raspberry Pi will not cut it – especially nowadays, when the prices are high and the in-stock amounts are low. But if you look in your closet, you might find a decently-specced la…

All About USB-C: Replying Low-Level PD

Last time, we configured the FUSB302 to receive USB PD messages, and successfully received a “capability advertisement” message from a USB-C PSU. Now we crack the PD specification open,…

All About USB-C: Talking Low-Level PD

In this USB-C series, we’ve covered quite a bit of USB-C – things that are well known, things that should be  better known, and a couple things that just appeared online for the first t…

All About USB-C: Resistors And Emarkers

If you’ve been following along our USB-C saga, you know that the CC wire in the USB-C cables is used for communications and polarity detection. However, what’s not as widely known is th…

All About USB-C: Cable Types

USB-C cables and connectors: these are controversial topics, and rightfully so – I don’t want to pull any punches. I will also show you that things don’t have to be that bad for y…

M.2 For Hackers – Connectors

In the first M.2 article, I’ve described real-world types and usecases of M.2 devices, so that you don’t get confused when dealing with various cards and ports available out there. I&#8…

Git Your PCBs Online

Last time, I’ve shown you how to create a local Git repository around your PCB project. That alone provides you with local backups, helping you never lose the changes you make to your files, …

Lithium-Ion Batteries Are Easy To Find

In the first article, I’ve given you an overview of Lithium-Ion batteries and cells as building blocks for our projects, and described how hackers should treat their Lithium-Ion cells. But wh…

Top 16 Essential Soft Skills For The Future Of Work

The workplace of the future will include more automation of repetitive tasks – but that means we will need distinctly human skills like critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration more than ever. Find out which skills you should cultivate to...

Books You Should Read: The Hardware Hacker’s Handbook

Here on Hackaday, we routinely cover wonderful informative writeups on different areas of hardware hacking, and we even have our own university with courses that delve into topics one by one. I&#82…

Natural Language AI In Your Next Project? It’s Easier Than You Think

Want your next project to trash talk? Dynamically rewrite boring log messages as sci-fi technobabble? Happily (or grudgingly) answer questions? Doing that sort of thing and more can be done with Op…

Animate Your Robot In Blender

You’ve built a robot crammed full of servos and now you settle down for the fun part, programming your new dancing animatronic bear! The pain in your life is just beginning. Imagine that you …