Technology

Jeri Reverse Engineers an HC55564 Chip from an Old Pinball Machine

Jeri Reverse Engineers an HC55564 Chip from an Old Pinball Machine

In her latest Intersil “Academy of Analog Pinball Wizardry” video, Jeri Ellsworth replaces an HC55564 Continuous Variable Slope Delta (CVSD) codec chip with one she reversed engineered into an FPGA. What in blue-blazes is a CVSD modulator? Watch the vid and find out — as usual, Jeri does a great job of showing how it works, how she reversed engineered it, and what the result are.

Senseless Drawing Bot is Senseless

Senseless Drawing Bot is Senseless

Combining a double pendulum, spray paint, and motorized wheels, So Kanno and Takahiro Yamaguchi created a Senseless Drawing Bot, which chaotically paints a gallery wall. See it in action below: [via Creative Applications] UPDATE: Check out this blog, where the artists documented the construction and testing of The Senseless Drawing Bot. More: Pendulum Pr0n Weekend […]

Apple I Replica Kit

Apple I Replica Kit

Hobbyists are rediscovering the appeal of classic microcomputers from the 70s and early 80s, eager to tinker with computers at their fundamental level. Vince Briel designed the Replica I with permission from the Apple I’s original creator, Steve Wozniak. He sells it assembled ($199), as a kit ($149), or just the motherboard and specialized chips ($79). (Alternatively, […]

Freescale Tower

Freescale Tower

Got a project to prototype? Freescale’s Tower system with its Real Time Communications Suite (RTCS) offers greater processing power and more programming resources than Arduino, although it takes longer to learn. The basic kit consists of the 32-bit microcontroller board with USB and RS-232 interfaces, accelerometer, four display LEDs, switches, and a potentiometer. Additional modules […]

NFC/RFID Controller Breakout Board

NFC/RFID Controller Breakout Board

In the next few years there’s going to be an influx of a not-so-new technology called Near Field Communication (NFC), which is very similar to RFID, and enables small devices to read passive tags and communicate with each other in close proximity. Card readers use it, as do phones that do payment processing. Adafruit’s PN532 […]

Ultimate Microcontroller Pack

Ultimate Microcontroller Pack

You can find an endless number of cool microcontroller projects and tutorials online these days. The tricky part is finding one that matches the components you already have or sourcing what you need to tackle that awesome project you’re dying to sink your teeth into. So the MAKE staff designed this pack with everything they wanted […]