Webtagr - Technology News Summarizer

Hardware Hacking: Extracting Firmware from an Electric Toothbrush with Raspberry Pi and PiFex

2025-04-06

This article details a hardware reverse engineering project targeting an electric toothbrush, using a Raspberry Pi and PiFex board. The author meticulously explains how to create a Raspberry Pi image with PiGen, pre-loaded with necessary software and configured for peripherals like UART, SPI, and I2C. OpenOCD WebUI and Jupyter Notebooks are leveraged for firmware extraction and hardware-level debugging. The process involves modifying configuration files, installing dependencies, and accessing the Pi via USB-to-Serial and USB-to-Ethernet gadgets. The ultimate goal is to extract the toothbrush's firmware and achieve hardware-level debugging.

(voidstarsec.com)

Hardware Hardware Reverse Engineering

Erica Synths Opensources its DIY Eurorack Modules

2025-04-06

Following the discontinuation of its legacy DIY eurorack projects, Erica Synths has decided to open-source them. They've provided Gerber files for PCB-made front panels and made slight design changes to eliminate custom and rare components (though some modules still require rare ICs available at www.ericasynths.lv). Each folder contains complete build information and files: schematics, front panel Gerber files, PCB Gerber files, BOMs, component placement with values and designators, and assembly manuals (note that some manuals are for older module versions). Erica Synths permits third-party use for personal, educational, or commercial purposes, but will provide no support; refer to forums (www.muffwiggler.com) for build nuances, troubleshooting, part availability, and alternatives. Open-sourced modules include: Bassline, BBD delay/flanger, Delay, Dual VCA, Envelope, MIDI-CV, Mixer, Modulator, Output, Polivoks VCF, Swamp, and VCO3.

(github.com)

Hardware

Diagnosing and Repairing a MacBook Pro Memory Failure: Pinpointing a Single Faulty RAM IC

2025-04-05

This article details how to pinpoint a single faulty RAM IC causing a memory failure using Memtest86 results and memory address decoding, using a late 2013 15-inch MacBook Pro as a case study. It analyzes the mapping between memory addresses and channels, ranks, and data bits, and uses schematics and board views to successfully replace the faulty IC and fix the memory issue. Note that this method relies on some reverse-engineered findings and requires some electronics repair skills.

(blog.piernov.org)

Hardware Memory Failure

Retired Broadcast Engineer's Dream Mini Rack: A Solution for 40+ Remote Tower Sites

2025-04-05

A retired broadcast engineer built a robust system for managing 40+ remote tower sites using a DeskPi RackMate T1 mini rack. This system integrates redundant internet connectivity, multiple audio source processing, silence monitoring, an exciter, and remote monitoring capabilities. The standardized setup allows for easier maintenance and deployment by volunteers. Improvements suggested include a larger rack, PoE power, and standardized mini-rack mounting options for better efficiency and convenience.

(github.com)

Hardware Mini Rack

Tracking the ISS with a repurposed IR Turret

2025-04-05

Using a HackPack IR turret received as a birthday gift, the author created a device that tracks the International Space Station (ISS) in real-time. By fetching Two-Line Element (TLE) data for the ISS and using the SGP4 algorithm to calculate its position, the author converted this into azimuth and elevation angles to control stepper and servo motors. The project involved astronomy calculations, embedded programming, and 3D modeling, showcasing creativity and technical skills. It offers a unique observation tool for amateur astronomers.

(faridrener.com)

Hardware

RDNA 4's Dynamic VGPR Allocation: A Ray Tracing Bottleneck Breaker

2025-04-05

AMD's RDNA 4 architecture introduces a novel dynamic VGPR (vector general-purpose register) allocation mode to address the trade-off between register count and occupancy in ray tracing. Traditional GPUs face limitations in ray tracing where fixed register allocation per thread restricts thread parallelism in stages with high register demands. RDNA 4's dynamic allocation allows threads to adjust register counts at runtime, increasing occupancy without enlarging the register file, thus reducing latency and boosting ray tracing performance. While this mode can lead to deadlocks, AMD mitigates this with a deadlock avoidance mode. This isn't a universal solution, limited to wave32 compute shaders, but significantly advances AMD's ray tracing capabilities.

(chipsandcheese.com)

Hardware Dynamic VGPR Allocation

8-Pin Linux: A Surprisingly Powerful Single-Board Computer

2025-04-04

This article details the creation of a remarkably compact Linux computer built using only three 8-pin chips. The author cleverly overcomes the limitations of the minimal pin count by creatively sharing pins between the SPI RAM and SD card, and implementing USB-to-serial communication and SD card access in software. The resulting miniature computer successfully runs Debian Linux, supporting tools like vi and gcc, showcasing ingenious design and surprising capabilities.

(dmitry.gr)

Hardware minimal hardware

The RAW Image Format Mess: Why Isn't DNG Universal?

2025-04-04

The world of camera RAW formats is a fragmented mess. Canon's CR3, Nikon's NEF, Sony's ARW, and others create compatibility headaches for software developers and users alike. Adobe's DNG (Digital Negative) attempted to solve this with an open standard, but major manufacturers cling to proprietary formats. This article explores the reasons behind this: tighter control over image processing pipelines and optimization for their own software. While DNG offers flexibility, ease of use, and future-proofing, larger companies prioritize performance and unique features. This creates friction for early adopters and software developers, but as long as manufacturers cooperate with Adobe, the status quo might persist.

(www.theverge.com)

Hardware RAW format

Coreboot 25.03 Released: Open-Source BIOS Gets Major Update

2025-04-04

Coreboot, the open-source BIOS/firmware solution, has released version 25.03, bringing significant improvements. This release boasts enhanced display handling, a better USB debugging experience, CPU topology updates, various improvements to open-source RAM initialization for aging Intel Haswell platforms, improved USB Type-C and Thunderbolt handling, various embedded controller (EC) improvements, better RISC-V architecture support, DDR5-7500 support, and numerous bug fixes. Furthermore, it adds support for 22 new motherboards, including several Google Chromebooks, the AMD "Crater" development platform, older ASRock motherboards, and StarLabs devices. The Intel Panther Lake reference platform, "Intel Ptlrvp," is also supported.

(www.phoronix.com)

Hardware Open-Source BIOS

DIY 30kW Dynamometer: Testing Electric Boat Gearboxes

2025-04-04

A mechanical engineer in the electric marine industry built a custom 30kW dynamometer to test marine transmissions he designs and builds. The dyno features torque measurement, water cooling, CAN bus integration, and a Python-based dashboard. The article details the build process, challenges encountered, and technical specifics, covering motor selection, sensor integration, data acquisition, and power supply. It also shares lessons learned in noise suppression and system integration.

(www.thriftybuilder.dev)

Hardware

Installing AIX 1.3 on a 486: A Retro Computing Odyssey

2025-04-03

After contracting COVID-19, the author embarked on a nostalgic project: installing AIX 1.3 on their aging 486 computer. This Franken-486, a collection of parts accumulated over three decades, presented numerous hurdles. The installation process involved 94 floppy disk images, grappling with IDE interface issues, VGA compatibility problems, and corrupted installation disks. The author's troubleshooting journey included swapping graphics cards, hard drives, recreating installation disks, and even crafting a custom VGA cable, yet the installation ultimately failed. This anecdote reflects a passion for retro computing and perseverance in overcoming technical challenges, highlighting the quirks and complexities of older hardware.

(hardwarehacks.org)

Hardware hardware installation

Tenstorrent Unveils Blackhole™ AI Accelerator Cards and Developer Hub

2025-04-03

Tenstorrent has launched its new Blackhole™ AI accelerator cards, featuring all-new RISC-V cores designed for efficient handling of massive AI workloads and offering an infinitely scalable solution. The Blackhole™ product line includes single-processor versions (p100 and p150, priced at $999 and $1299 respectively) and a four-processor liquid-cooled workstation, the TT-Quietbox ($11,999). The next-generation Blackhole™ PCIe cards boast a 6nm manufacturing process, faster Network-on-Chip (NoC), higher memory density, and additional integrated RISC-V cores. Alongside the hardware, Tenstorrent also launched a Developer Hub providing model support, tutorial videos, bounties, and resources for the developer community. All Blackhole™ cards and the TT-Quietbox are fully supported by Tenstorrent's open-source software stack, including TT-Forge™, TT-NN™, TT-Metalium™, and TT-LLK.

(tenstorrent.com)

Hardware

Reverse Engineering the Boot Process of a 90s AlphaStation 500

2025-04-03

The author acquired a broken AlphaStation 500 workstation and embarked on a journey to understand its boot process. The investigation centered around the SROM (Serial ROM), which contained eight multiplexed images selectable via jumpers. Using Python and Rust, the author extracted and decoded the SROM data, revealing Alpha machine code. Analysis revealed the CPU directly controls a serial port using internal processor registers for bit-banging. While the AlphaStation's boot issue remains unsolved, the process uncovered the unique boot mechanism of this vintage workstation.

(thejpster.org.uk)

Hardware

The 17-Year-Old ThinkPad: A Case Study in Robustness vs. Fragility

2025-04-03

This article contrasts a 17-year-old ThinkPad with a modern MacBook, exploring the relationship between product longevity and design philosophy. The ThinkPad, with its modular design, easy repairability, and open ecosystem, demonstrates remarkable resilience, allowing for easy repairs and upgrades even when things break. The author leverages Nassim Nicholas Taleb's Lindy Effect, arguing that products that have withstood the test of time tend to have longer lifespans. In contrast, the modern MacBook, while powerful, suffers from a closed design, difficult repairs, and dependence on Apple's software ecosystem, making it fragile and short-lived. The conclusion highlights the ThinkPad's durability stemming from its modularity and extensive community support, giving it a significantly longer lifespan.

(pilledtexts.com)

Hardware Lindy Effect

MIT's Open-Source Secure Hardware Design Course: Attack and Defense, Hands-On

2025-04-03

MIT's open-source course, Secure Hardware Design (6.5950/6.5951), uniquely teaches students both how to attack modern CPUs and design resilient architectures. Students gain hands-on experience hacking real processors, learning state-of-the-art hardware attacks and defenses. The course, a culmination of years of work, uses a 'Think-Play-Do' philosophy. Students learn through lectures, interactive CTF-style recitations, and labs involving real hardware attacks (no simulators!). The capstone project challenges students to create a CPU fuzzer to discover bugs in real CPU RTL designs.

(shd.mit.edu)

Hardware

Classic 2 Mouse Released: USB-C, Improved Scroll Wheel, and Still Open Source!

2025-04-02

The Classic 2 mouse is here, starting at $144 CAD! This updated version retains the beloved ergonomics of the original Classic, but features a significant upgrade to USB-C connectivity. The biggest improvement is a much smoother, more accurate scroll wheel thanks to a new Raspberry RP2040 microcontroller that resolves previous responsiveness issues. It remains open-source and boasts improved 3D printability. Unfortunately, no upgrade kit is offered for the original Classic.

(blog.ploopy.co)

Hardware

Bypassing JTAG Locks on Microchip SAM4C32 via Voltage Glitching

2025-04-02

A security researcher has discovered a voltage glitching attack that bypasses the JTAG lock on the Microchip SAM4C32 microcontroller. The attack exploits the reset pin as a side channel, injecting a voltage glitch during power-up to disable the security bit and gain unlocked JTAG access. This method may be applicable to many SAM series microcontrollers using GPNVM bits for security. The vulnerability is likely difficult to patch, posing a significant threat to devices relying on these microcontrollers.

(wiki.recessim.com)

Hardware voltage glitching

Astonishing Discrepancies: A Comparison of Acceleration Structure Memory Usage Across GPUs

2025-04-02

This article benchmarks the memory consumption of building acceleration structures (BVHs) for ray tracing across different vendor GPUs. The results reveal significant discrepancies, with the latest NVIDIA GPUs using only one-third or even one-twentieth the memory of AMD counterparts. The article delves into the internal structure of BVHs, contrasting different driver implementations and hardware architecture effects. It analyzes the BVH implementation details of AMD's RDNA2/3 and RDNA4 architectures, explaining the reasons behind the memory usage differences. Finally, the author concludes that BVH memory consumption is heavily influenced by hardware, drivers, and algorithms, and projects future improvement potential.

(zeux.io)

Hardware acceleration structure

OpenChess: An Open-Source Smart Chessboard for Everyone

2025-04-02

OpenChess is a fully open-source smart chessboard designed to make interactive, intelligent gameplay accessible to all. Combining low-cost electronics, 3D printing, and customizable software, OpenChess empowers makers, educators, and chess enthusiasts to build their own connected chess experience without breaking the bank. It's affordable, DIY-friendly, programmable, and modular, allowing for customization of the board, pieces, and electronics.

(thangs.com)

Hardware smart game

DIY Electric Go-Kart: From Junk Hoverboards to Kid's Ride

2025-04-02

A father, inspired by childhood dreams, transformed a simple pedal go-kart into a powerful, all-terrain electric vehicle for his three-year-old son. Utilizing discarded hoverboard motors, inexpensive controllers, and an Arduino Nano, he created a vehicle with both remote-controlled and manual driving modes, a speed limiter, and lights. While improvements like remote steering and regenerative braking are planned, this creative and loving DIY project provides a fun and exciting ride for his child.

(matto.io)

Hardware Kids Toy

Lithium Battery Pack Test: One Week of Lessons Learned

2025-04-01

After a week of using a lithium battery pack for power, the author shares their experience. The charging efficiency of the lithium battery pack is very high, and the discharge voltage drops slowly and predictably. In the test, a 1200W vacuum cleaner load did not cause overheating. However, after five consecutive nights of power supply, the voltage of one battery pack dropped sharply. The reason was inconsistencies in capacity due to differences in the number of cells in each pack; packs with fewer cells showed greater capacity increase at lower C-rates. The author solved the problem by adding cells and rebalancing, concluding that slight imbalances are acceptable as long as the packs don't reach their extreme charge or discharge limits.

(secondlifestorage.com)

Hardware battery pack test

WattWise: CLI Power Monitoring and Management for High-Performance Workstations

2025-04-01

Facing high electricity bills from a power-hungry workstation built for LLM workloads, the author developed WattWise, a lightweight CLI tool for real-time power monitoring and management. WattWise displays real-time power draw, historical charts, and dynamically adjusts CPU/GPU frequencies during peak electricity pricing periods. It integrates with TP-Link Kasa smart plugs (directly or via Home Assistant), offering flexibility and practicality. While currently limited to single plug support and Kasa compatibility, its modular design allows for future expansion.

(www.naveen.ing)

Hardware Power Management CLI Tool

Archaeology of the Pentium's Microcode ROM

2025-03-31

This article delves into the low-level circuitry of the microcode ROM in the original Pentium processor. Using microscopic images of the chip die, the author reveals the ROM's physical structure: two rectangular banks of transistors, each providing 45 bits of output for a total 90-bit micro-instruction. The article meticulously details the functioning of the microcode address register, row select drivers, and output circuitry. It also explains the role of shift registers and XOR gates for testing purposes, and the complexity of power distribution within the Pentium. Ultimately, the author highlights the unexpected complexity of the Pentium's microcode ROM and the optimizations implemented for performance and density.

(www.righto.com)

Hardware

Xfinity XB3 Hardware Mod: Disable WiFi, Save 2 Watts

2025-03-30

A user modded their Xfinity XB3 modem to save power. The XB3, provided with Comcast's cheaper Xfinity NOW service, consumes 14.9 watts. By disassembling the modem and grounding the EN pin on the TPS54328 voltage regulator, the user disabled WiFi, reducing power consumption to 12.5 watts – a 2-watt saving. While the admin page is briefly inaccessible after booting, network functionality remains unaffected.

(gist.github.com)

Hardware hardware mod power saving

Samsung's 2025 Bespoke Lineup: AI-Powered Appliances for the Smart Home

2025-03-30

Samsung finally unveiled its full 2025 Bespoke appliance lineup, initially teased at CES. The highlight is the Bespoke 4-door French-door refrigerator, available with 9-inch and a massive 32-inch Family Hub+ screen (capable of playing TikTok!). AI Vision Inside recognizes 37 fresh and 50 processed food items, generating shopping lists. A hybrid cooling system combines compressor and Peltier technology for energy efficiency and quiet operation; a space-saving Kitchen Fit model is also available. The smart oven recognizes 80 recipes, records cooking processes; a quiet dishwasher auto-detects food residue; the AI washer/dryer completes cycles in 68 minutes; and a cordless stick vacuum boasts 400AW suction and 100-minute runtime. Pre-orders offer up to $1000 off and an extra year of warranty.

(www.engadget.com)

Hardware Smart Appliances Samsung Bespoke

Chiplab Launches: Run Your 6502 Programs on Real Hardware

2025-03-30

Chiplab now offers a service to run your 6502 assembly programs on a real 6502 chip, providing cycle-by-cycle bus traces for highly accurate testing and research. Users upload their code, which runs for 100 cycles, after which a detailed trace of address and data bus values is returned. This approach offers a superior alternative to emulators and lays the groundwork for analyzing more complex chips in the future. The project is open-source and welcomes contributions.

(www.emulationonline.com)

Hardware chip emulator

IBM & Family Keyboard Timeline: 111 Key Events

2025-03-30

This illustrated timeline charts key events in the history of IBM, Lexmark, Unicomp, Lenovo, and Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions keyboards. It covers significant releases and discontinuations, corporate history (founding, divestitures, OEM changes), and patents. Host devices like PCs, terminals, consoles, and typewriters are also included due to their impact on keyboard development. The full timeline details 111 events.

(sharktastica.co.uk)

Hardware IBM keyboards keyboard history

Raspberry Pi E-Ink Commute & Weather Tracker: Closing the Agency Gap

2025-03-29

The author built a Raspberry Pi-powered e-ink display that shows real-time subway arrival times and weather forecasts, solving a daily morning commute problem. The device displays date, time, upcoming F & G train arrivals for the next 30 minutes, and a 12-hour weather forecast. The project details cover hardware and software design, including data acquisition from the MTA API, display engine, and update strategies to minimize screen flickering and ghosting. The final product is aesthetically pleasing and functional, loved by the author's wife, successfully bridging the 'agency gap'.

(sambroner.com)

Hardware E-ink

Bolt Graphics Unveils Ambitious Zeus GPU Architecture

2025-03-29

Bolt Graphics announced its Zeus GPU architecture, a modular design based on the RISC-V instruction set. Employing a multi-chiplet approach, Zeus scales up to four chiplets, each boasting 64GB of LPDDR5X and abundant high-speed interconnect options like 800GbE and PCIe Gen5. Targeting large-scale GPU clusters through high memory capacity and bandwidth, Zeus aims to challenge Nvidia's dominance in high-performance computing. While still in early development, with developer kits slated for Q4 2025, its unique architecture and potential for cost-effectiveness warrant attention.

(www.servethehome.com)

Hardware

Real-Time Chess: A Physical Board That Eliminates Turns

2025-03-29

Tired of the long waits in turn-based chess? A developer has created a real-time physical chessboard that eliminates turns entirely. Each piece has an individual cooldown, enforced by electronics and electromagnets, preventing cheating. The project's PCB designs and firmware are open-source, but the author notes issues like inadequate power distribution and tight tolerances.

(github.com)

Hardware

Category: Hardware