Getting 12 year olds to learn assembly programming

April 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

[notch], the mastermind behind Minecraft, is working on a new game. It’s called 0x10c (pronounced ‘trillek’, we think) and promises to teach an entire new generation the joys of assembly programming on a 1980s-era computer.

The setup for the game is nerdy/awesome enough to make [Douglas Adams] blush; a ‘deep sleep core’ was invented in 1988 that attached to the 16-bit computers of the day. This core was big endian, where the DCPU-16 (the computer in the game) was little endian. What was supposed to be a one-year hibernation turned into a 281 Trillion year coma, the Universe is dying, and everyone from 1988 is just waking up.

The game features a fully functional 16-bit CPU that controls every aspect of your spaceship. The specs for the DCPU-16 have been released and there are several emulators available.

Already, a few communities have been set up around the web to discuss how to program the DCPU-16: the official forum of 0x10c, the 0x10c subreddit, and another dedicated to programming the in-game computer. Already there’s a C-like language that compiles executables for the DCPU and a Game of Life implementation.

We know this isn’t a usual Hackaday post. Despite this, we’re fairly certain a good percentage of our readership will be programming a DCPU-16 in the next year. It just might be time to crack the books and learn how to build a compiler and OS. The dragon book (Compilers Principles, Techniques, and Tools, Aho, Sethi, Ullman, 1985) is very good, and [Andy Tanenbaum]’s Operating Systems Design and Implementation is how [Linus Torvalds] got his start.

One more thing: we’re going to be running a contest for the best physical implementation of the DCPU-16 in a few months. We’ll wait until the in-game hardware is nailed down, along with any peripherals [notch] plans to add. Right now the prizes are some HaD schwag, but that may change. Further info with updates pending, but you’re free to start working now.

Filed Under: Software Development Tagged With: , , ,

Build an induction heater and become a metalsmith

April 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

If you’ve ever wanted to forge, cast, or smelt metal, this project is right up your alley. It’s a 30 kVA induction heater built by [bwang] over on Instructables. It gets hot enough to melt and forge steel, iron, and aluminum.

An induction heater operates by surrounding the object to be heated with a coil carrying high frequency AC current. Basically, the entire setup acts like a huge transformer with a shorted secondary. To get these currents into a workpiece, [bwang] used a TL494 PWM controller as an oscillator. The output of the TL494 is filtered and amplified a few times to generate a huge amount of AC current.

Larger versions of [bwang]’s induction heater are found in foundries and forges all across the land; even though this small version sucks down 50 A out of a dryer or stove outlet, induction heating is very efficient. We’re actually wondering why we don’t see many home blacksmiths using induction heating, so we’ll leave that for our readers to discuss in the comments.

[sessions] reminded us of this induction heater from a few years ago. A little smaller, but still usable.

Filed Under: hardware, misc hacks Tagged With: , , , , ,

Want a two person self destruct button, but tired of pesky microcontrollers?

April 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

We all know that our precious cruisers/warships/assets can not fall into the wrong hands, and what better way to assure that information security than incorporating a self destruct button into the design? While the general premise is simple enough the only real way to make sure some crazy space-virus can’t infect your captain and force him to destroy your ship is to add a two button security system! Wait, what if it’s a computer virus?! Well [Andrea] has it covered with this two hand hand control switch. We guess you could also just use the scheme to flip on a dangerous piece of equipment, since it forces the operator to remove both hands from the machine to operate the buttons, but where is the drama in that?

The buttons are timed using a combination of voltage dividers and caps to activate transistors, one to activate the 555 timer and another to disable the button input after a half second or so. Since it’s all resistor capacitor timing your circuit may require just a bit of tuning (or precision components) to get everything right.  There is a bit of an issue with using two people to trigger the output, as the second button actually operates the output relay directly. If the second button is held it will only remain active until the timer’s output is triggered, but if your second in command gets cold feet and releases the button before the core goes thermo, well, you’ll have an embarrassing jog to the escape pods.

Check the video after the jump to see [Andrea] fiddling around with the switch.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: how-to Tagged With: , ,

CNC'd business cards will definitely get you noticed

April 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

cnc-business-card

The guys over at North Street Labs were bored, so they figured why not go ahead and built a CNC machine just for kicks. While they haven’t put up build details on the CNC just yet, they do have some newly milled business cards to show off just how well the machine works.

Part ruler, part LED throwie, we think their new business cards look great. Milled out of thin acrylic sheeting, their cards feature the North Street Labs logo and URL along with 1/32” ruler markings along the top. The card is also fitted with space for a button cell battery and RGB LED, which illuminates the entire card nicely from the side.

They say that the cards take about 5 minutes apiece to make, which is not bad at all. At $0.50 a pop, the cards are not nearly as cheap as those made from cardstock, but when you’re looking to impress what’s a couple of quarters?

Continue reading to see a short video of their CNC-milled business cards in action.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Hackerspaces Tagged With: , , ,

Google's Project Glass and other head-mounted displays

April 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past week, Google announced Project Glass, a real life head-mounted computer that’s actually useful. Glass is one of the projects being developed by Google X, the super-cool R&D department inside Google. On board are [Babak Parviz], [Steve Lee] and [Sebastian Thrun] (a.k.a. the guy you learned AI from last year).

Apart from an awesome video put up by the Google Glass team, there’s not much to go on. No hardware descriptions apart from concept pics, and nothing about software, the speech input, or even a complete list of features. Until that info is finalized it’s up to all the makers, hackers, and builders out there to figure out how to use a head-mounted display in public without getting strange looks. Here’s a few wearable computers and head mounted displays we’ve seen over the years:

[Read more…]

Filed Under: news Tagged With: , ,

The teensiest Atari 2600 ever

April 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

[Dablio] sent in an awesome console mod he made. It may just be the smallest Atari 2600 ever (Portuguese, here’s the Google translation).

The build began with a Dynacom MegaBoy, from the same company that put out many less-than-legal 2600 clones. The MegaBoy PCB is an exercise in parsimony consisting of only a single IC, a crystal, and some resistors and caps. [Dablio] made a new PCB board based on the schematic he reverse engineered and this thing is tiny. It’s much smaller than even the smallest [Ben Heck] 2600 console build.

[Dablio] now needed a case for his new console. He had originally planned to mount the whole thing in an Atari controller like this commercial product. Serendipity intervened and he realized the entire system (sans cartridge port) fit inside a plastic tube of m&m minis.

Currently, [Dablio] has two ports on his ‘Atari tube of m&ms’ – the largest is the cartridge slot, and a small VGA port sits in the lid of the tube. This VGA port carries the power supply, controller, sound and video signals to and from the console.

[Dablio] sent in a bunch of pictures of his build which are in a gallery after the break. Now for the million-dollar question: anybody know where to buy one of these Dynacom MegaBoys?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: toy hacks Tagged With: , ,
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