S1axter's Tech Log of Crazy Stuff
s1axter
Circuits, electronics, hacks, software, firmware and anything else cool
s1axter posted on Fri. August 3rd 2007 at 08:57 AM PST.
Finally! It's been such a pain looking for a new car. I've been so out of it I had to tap firewire to make some posts on GI. But the search is over, and I get the car this weekend. Which means I can focus back on GI and the cool hardware review that is coming up. Yup that's right, GI is going to be reviewing a PIC development board from SparkFun electronics. Not going to give any more info now but watch for it in a week or so. Also, remember Toorcon 9 is going to be held in San Diego again this year so if you can make it, try!
And here is a pic for all those who aren't interested.
s1axter posted on Sun. July 29th 2007 at 07:07 PM PST.
I've titled these sections as "blogs" but I don't really post anything other than stuff for the main page. I figured that I should probably start adding stuff to this page.
Lately I haven't posted much at all, mostly due to work and my car getting totaled a few weeks ago. When I get home from work I usually make something to eat and relax a little, then spend some time looking on craigslist for cars. Dosen't leave much time to really updat GI.
I was thinking a mid 90s VW Cabrio, VW Jetta, or Volvo. So if you know anyone who is selling a car in the greater San Diego area, let me know!
I was re-watching some of the Toorcon videos from last year and ended up researching about Tor on wikipedia. It's interesting stuff, take a look.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_(anonymity_network)
s1axter posted on Fri. July 27th 2007 at 09:46 AM PST. (Main Post!)
Toorcon is back for round '1001'. As of today the Toorcon website says
"ToorCon, now in its 9th year running, is San Diego's hacker conference bringing together the top security experts to present their new tricks of the trade and have fun in the sunny and beautiful city of San Diego. This year ToorCon will be taking place again at the Convention Center on October 19th-21st, 2007."
Firewire and I went to Toorcon last year and saw all sorts of cool stuff. If you didn't go you can catch up since videos from Toorcon 8 are posted on Google video http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=toorcon.org
One of my favorites was the "Cheap Crack" talk about breaking Triple DES with an array of FPGAs.
Keep looking for updates on GI and the Toorcon site
s1axter posted on Wed. July 25th 2007 at 07:37 AM PST.
Oh man, what a week. Sorry for not posting much it's been one hell of a week.
Between my car getting totaled on my way home from work (not my fault) and dealing with crazyness at work I haven't spent much time at all browsing and finding cool stuff on the net. I did do a little assembly with my 16F872 and new logic analyzer to try and decode IR signals. I'm trying to grab the signals from a remote to control the hookbot platform and it's proving to be quite a pain. I planned on posting some stuff on IR and the source for the PIC but it's not done yet.
I hope to pick the pace back up soon so check back
s1axter posted on Thu. July 19th 2007 at 09:51 PM PST. (Main Post!)
A few weeks ago I was browsing eBay for used lab equipment and stumbled upon Harlan Labs. Harlan Labs is based in San Diego California and sells used test equipment on their web site and eBay ( eBay page ).
I went down to their office today and they have a TON of old stuff. The beauty of old stuff is that if it did the job when it was new, it will do the same job now. Only a few years ago, designing a small embedded system running at 4Mhz was a huge task requiring tens of thousands of dollars in equipment. Today the test systems of yore just won't cut it, but those old systems are still useful. If you are a hobbyist or have a limited budget much of the 'old' stuff laying around with work fine for smaller projects.
So take a look and see what you can find on eBay or swing by the Harlan Labs site.
**Click here for a pic of my 'new' old logic analyzer from Harlan :-P
s1axter posted on Fri. July 13th 2007 at 06:47 PM PST. (Main Post!)
Ever want to know how to interface with SmartCards? You know, the ones with the pins on the top that have 8-bit microprocessors on board. Well read this and get started hacking something. All you need to know about ISO SmartCards.
http://www.technick.net/public/cod...longurl
More info:
http://www.smartcardbasics.com/standards.html
Old smart card FAQ:
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/technology/smartcards/faq/
A circuit to emulate a smart card:
http://www.electronics-lab.com/projects/misc/003/index.html
Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_card
s1axter posted on Wed. July 11th 2007 at 04:09 PM PST.
A friend of mine sent me this link, it 'flips' any text you enter. The javascript is in the source so have some fun and send your friends a crazy IM.
http://www.revfad.com/flip.html
sʞɔoɹ ɯoɔ˙ǝpısuısʞǝǝƃ
s1axter posted on Wed. July 11th 2007 at 12:03 PM PST. (Main Post!)
As a follow up to the Make video on laser printer PCB transfer, here is a cool page about using the fuser from a broken laser printer to transfer toner.
http://www.storm.ca/~rheslip/pcbfuser.htm
The toner transfer method works by remelting the toner onto the PCB, then you remove the paper and etch the board. From my experiences it's quite the pain getting the heat even enough over the board to ensure consistent transfer. It looks like using a printer fuser would be a good way to get the even heat.
I've already started looking for old laser printers to rip apart and make my own fuser.
s1axter posted on Mon. July 9th 2007 at 10:51 PM PST.
Yesterday, after the post of the Make DIY etching I went out and got some stuff to try my hand at it again. A few years ago in school I etched a circuit for a solar car using press-n-peel transfers and after a few attempts it came out pretty good.
For those who want to try the laser printer toner transfer a few things you might want to make note of:
1. Put some plain paper between the back of the photo paper and the iron. This will keep the iron from sticking to the transfer if it has a coating. It will also reduce the chance of skewage.
2. I would try a few simple toner transfers with varying heat. The first attempt tonight melted the photo paper to the board.
3. Don't press too hard on the iron. Part of the PCB+paper result was because I really gave it hell.
4. Use a flat surface and try and get the photo paper evenly hot with even pressure. As you can see in the pic, some edges didn't transfer too well, most likely from low heat/pressure.
5. Warm the ferric chloride, it works faster.
6. Ferric chloride gets on EVERYTHING, you've been warned.
Eh, not bad for a first attempt in years
Page: 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10...25 NEXT>
