James L

Before there were multimeters, there was the galvanometer. Born from Ørsted’s magnetic needle experiment, the galvanometer became the 19th century’s essential instrument for detecting and measuring electricity. This is the story of the Galvanometer.

emedia.digikey.com/eMagazine-Vo...

I love modern smartphones, but I really do miss the Palm Pilots.

Just came across Visashot - A Python tool to create beautiful screenshots from vintage test equipment. Up to 120 instruments supported.

damien.douxchamps.net/elec/visashot/

TDK introduced a 1uF, 100V capacitance in an EIA 0603-sized case. The press release suggests it targets 48V systems (like data centers.) At 50V, the effective capacitance isn't even 200 nF.

product.tdk.com/en/search/ca...

That DC bias effect is real.

Also listed on the title page of this manual is a Microfiche part number. This number can be used to order 4 x 6-inch microfilm transparencies of the manual. Each microfiche contains up to 60 photo-duplicates of the manual pages. The microfiche package also includes the latest Manual Changes supplement as well as all pertinent Service Notes.

Before PDFs, you could order a Microfiche version of test equipment manuals to stay up-to-date.

Game Bub An open-source FPGA retro-emulation handheld

A fully open-source alternative to the Analogue Pocket is coming to a Crowd Supply campaign. Game Bub targets GB, GBC, and GBA games. It's an FPGA-based emulation platform. And it looks pretty slick. www.crowdsupply.com/second-bedro...

Definitely a similar idea.

Agreed that the Fruitjam is far more refined, and I'm sure its CircuitPython support will make it a more interesting device.

Maker News June 2025 Update. Lots of cool stuff to check out from great makers:

Kayaks on treadmills, rogue sparks in shielded boxes, and a payment terminal that gives up root in 30 seconds

makernews.substack.com/p/maker-news...

It's giving me retro-computing vibes with USB-Host, DVI/HDMI, and an Audio codec. Plus 8 MB of RAM.

My first 386 PC only had 2.

RP2350pc Open Source Hardware all in one computer with RP2350B, 8MB PSRAM, 16MB Flash, Four USB host, DVI/HDMI output and Audio Codec for retro computer emulation and education RP2350pc is an Open Source Hardware complete computer with: RP2350B Dual Core ARM/RISCV processor build in 520KB RAM, 8MB PSRAM, 16MB Flash Four USB ports Two UEXT connectors DVI/HDMI output Audio …

The RP2350pc appears to be an open-source single-board computer from @Olimex, based on the RP2350 microcontroller. Their shop lists it at 25 EUR. bald.ee/rp2350pcolimex

$20 "Yellow" LCD showing path of Space Station powered by an ESP32

GuitarML on Github created an ESP32/Arduino-based Space Station Tracker. Add 2.8" LCD and watch its path around the world.

github.com/GuitarML/Spa...

CT Scan of Switch 2 with callouts for the 5220mAh Li-Ion battery, Realtek audience codec, SK Hynix 256GB UFS, Meditek WiFi/BT, 2x6GB RAM, and Nvidia Tegra SoC

CT Scan of Switch 2 (Animated GIF), including the Tegra SoC via Reddit: www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/com...

If there were a real-life Undo button... mine would have broken by now.

A photo with the caption "'Hands weaving magnetic-core memory, IBM, Poughkeepsie, New York', 1956. Photograph by Ansel Adams. This photograph was made on a commercial assignment for IBM." This black-and-white photo shows a core memory plane being assembled. It consists of an 80 by 50 grid of wires in a frame with tiny toroids on the wire intersections. Each wire is attached to metal terminals on the frame. Someone is using tweezers to thread the tiny cores onto the wires. The plane is about 4/5 completed. One hand is below the plane, palm-up, visible through the wires. The other hand (with nail polish) is above the plane, holding tweezers.

This photo of magnetic core memory popped up, taken by Ansel Adams. I investigated a bit: this memory holds 4000 bits, each stored in a tiny magnetized ferrite ring. It may be from an IBM 705 vacuum-tube business computer. 1/N

C64 Screenshot. Prompt: Zoo, Output: Zoo was a little girl named Lily. She loved to play outside in the park. One day, she saw a big, red ball. She wanted to play with it, but she didn't want to play with

Found an LLM for the Commodore 64 (with 2MB REU). It isn't a chat bot, but it will tell you a story... like a 3 year old.

github.com/ytmytm/llama...

Thinking of 3d printer hubs, I know of Thingiverse and Printables. What other ones are popular?

Mountain View Reverse Engineering (mtvre) meetup Wed the 14th at Wagon Wheel BBQ, 7:00. Talks pending. See you there!

www.meetup.com/mountain-vi...

For any given PCB design, I have a few ideas of what might fail. I add a legend along the break off rail so I just circle any issue detected by the smoketest.

This makes test and rework quicker.

(Ideally there would be no issues and no rework but I'm not THAT good 🫣)

First time playing with a linear actuator. Controlling it with a UM FeatherS3 and an Adafruit Motor Featherwing.

No. Way.

RP Watchy display showing 19 steps taken as calculated by the LSM6DSV on the watch board.

I’m really stepping up with this LSM6DSV CircuitPython driver *rim shot*

@anneb.bsky.social (hopefully publishing the driver soon, potentially contributing to the official LSM6DS driver 👀)

I'm scouring the interwebs to find the best content relating to Python on hardware. Please consider signing up so I can show you one of the best resources on the galactic internet.

oh yeah. I add it to almost every query.

Really? I'll ask chatGPT how. /s

Is there a browser plugin that will add "-ai" to google searches?

PJRC is partnering with @sparkfun.bsky.social for manufacturing of all Teensy products.

We’re taking step with 2 main goals.

1: SparkFun has the manufacturing needed for Teensy's growth.

2: PJRC can renew focus on software & community.

pjrc.com/sparkfun-to-...

news.sparkfun.com/13308

There's lots to look forward to at #OHS2025 like Alessia Romani's talk on RepMat, an Open Source Materials Library designed to share circular sustainable practices on new materials and technologies, especially 3D printing!

picture of a PCB panel on the right and the assembled resistance decade on the left, in the form of a rectangular base plate with connection holes, and three gear-shaped discs with scales on, cone-shaped

A coworker had the idea of making this resistance decade, then somebody decided to make a whole bunch of them and hand them out at different locations (and at customers).

And now the gerber files are available for download! […]

[Original post on mastodon.social]

A graphic saying "come see us at" followed by the open hardware summit 2025 logo, and then "May 30-31, 2025 in Edinburgh"

Come and see us at @oshwassociation.bsky.social Summit in Edinburgh May 30-31!

We’ll have a stand, showcasing products past, present, and future! 🎉