Ep 201: Faking a Transmission, Making Nuclear Fuel, and a Slidepot With a Twist

Hackaday Podcast · 13 Jan 2023 · 1h 00m · Episode 201

What this episode covers

Hackaday editors Elliot Williams and Dan Maloney discuss a week of hardware hacks, including UMaker's retro computer display adapter using an STM32 G474, and Dean Sagovis's relay-based transmission faking for a VW Eurovan. They also cover the new ESP32 P4 RISC-V chip, Nixie Guy's rotary-to-linear Hall sensor mechanism, and various community projects like biodegradable PCBs and open-source firmware for door sensors. The episode concludes with discussions on right-to-repair victories with John Deere and the engineering complexities of nuclear fuel production.

Mentioned

Companies
John Deere, Volkswagen, Espressif
Products
Spaceball, Orbitron 9001, I Am Hex, biodegradable electronics, 433 megahertz door sensors
Chips
STM32 G474, ESP32 P4, Hall sensor
Also
UMaker, Technology Connections, Dean Sagovis, Nixie Guy

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 14m

    Pneumatic Tubes, Straight To The Home

    Dave Jones and Chris Gammell discuss recent tech hype, including debunking viral claims about the 'Water Cube' dehumidifier and beta-voltaic 'nuclear diamond' batteries. They cover the merger of Evil Mad Scientist and Bantam Tools, a side-channel security vulnerability affecting ESP32 microcontrollers, and the acquisition of a used TVM pick-and-place machine. The conversation also touches on power grid issues, CAD software choices like Fusion 360 and Onshape, and the failure of solar roadways.

  • The Electromaker Show · 27m

    1 Inch HDMI Second Screen, Retro Wall Art, and more!

    Ian from Electromaker presents episode 77, highlighting the new Electromaker Educator series hosted by Robin Mitchell, which covers microcontroller platforms like STM32, AVR, and RP2040. The episode features Aaron Christophel’s project to flash Texas Instruments chips using an ESP32, and discusses the March Electromaker of the Month winners, including a DIY RP2040 Space Mouse and a retro arcade clock. It also covers Mitxela’s 1-inch HDMI second screen hack, the Roendi rotary encoder display on Crowd Supply, and the NXP Cup autonomous vehicle competition.

  • The Spark Gap · 1h 19m

    The Spark Gap - Episode 32

    Hosts Carl and Corey revisit topics from their first 31 episodes, discussing the NXP acquisition of Freescale, MakerBot's layoffs, and Tesla's certified pre-owned program and Powerwall. They also analyze the John Deere firmware ownership controversy, the performance trade-offs of No-OS and Lua on microcontrollers, and the evolution of the Raspberry Pi. The episode highlights specific components like NXP current-sensing MOSFETs and the PCA8550 I2C dip switch, while addressing software bugs in Boeing 787 generator control units and the importance of checking simple parts like LDOs.

  • The Electromaker Show · 35m

    Mystery Raspberry Pi hardware, beautiful ESP32 ZX Spectrum, Stretchy PCBs and MUCH more!

    The host discusses stretchable PCB research from Yale's Faboratory and Charles Lohr's PolyLMN project, which use liquid metal pastes to create circuits that stretch up to 4x their size. He covers the potential Raspberry Pi 500 keyboard computer, the Pimoroni Pico Plus 2 W featuring the new RP2350 chip and in-house RM2 Wi-Fi module, and the M5Stack Cardputer ESP32 devkit. The episode also highlights the ESP32 Rainbow ZX Spectrum on Crowd Supply, solderless PCB prototyping with Opulo's Lumen PNP, and the ethical resolution of Jeff Geerling's voice cloning incident by Elecrow.

  • The Electromaker Show · 32m

    Arduino Plug and Make Giveaway, Hacking Walmart LED panels, Flexible Arduinos and more!

    Host Ian Buckley covers the Arduino Plug and Make Kit giveaway, highlighting its solderless daisy-chainable 'modulinos' and compatibility with the 5V-tolerant Arduino Uno R4. He details Turf PTAX's hack of a Walmart LED panel using an ESP32 C3 Xiao to replace dubious proprietary hardware, and 314 reactor's 'Checkout Challenge' game on an Adafruit PyBadge. The episode also features news on the Seeed Studio Xiao RA4M1, a flexible PCB Arduino clone by Edison Science Corner, and an update on the RP2350's HSTX peripheral from Adafruit's Scott.

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by Hackaday Podcast. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.