Samwise Makers' News
Tuesday, July 28, 2026
Hackaday Europe 2026: High Performance SDR On The Cheap
Anders Nielsen demonstrated a sub-$50 software-defined radio at Hackaday Europe 2026 that can pull the entire FM broadcast band simultaneously. Built around a TLV3253 comparator, a Silicon Labs 5351 clock oscillator, an ADA4891 op-amp buffer, and an HT9201 dual-channel 20 MHz 10-bit ADC, the design streams samples to a host PC via an FX2LP USB 2.0 controller. The system delivers 20 MHz bandwidth at 8-bit depth, or 10 MHz at 10-bit. Nielsen, who develops satellite firmware professionally, built the hardware specifically to demonstrate high-performance RF reception at a fraction of the cost of commercial SDR hardware.
Sources: Hackaday
Flexible PCBs: Not Only For The Few
At EMF 2026, Jessica Stanley delivered a talk making the case that flexible PCBs need not require industrial fabrication equipment. Stanley walked through several DIY approaches: polyimide substrates with chemically etched copper, conductive paint, electrolysis for copper deposition without dangerous chemicals, a vinyl cutter to create adhesive traces, and a stretchable PCB made by coiling a flexible circuit around a piece of elastic. The session's central theme was demonstrating that simple flexible PCBs can be within the reach of almost anyone, removing the assumption that flex PCB fabrication requires access to professional fab houses or expensive equipment.
Sources: Hackaday
Regain Some Trust In Unknown USB Drives
Security researcher Novamostra has released the USB Neutralizer, an open-source tool built around a Raspberry Pi Pico and a 2-in-1 USB splitter that destroys partition data on suspect thumb drives before they reach a host computer. The device works by targeting the first and last 34 logical block address sectors on a connected drive, corrupting any malicious partition table or autorun data. Source code is published on GitHub under the novamostra/USB-Neutralizer repository. Novamostra notes the tool's limitations clearly: it does not erase drive firmware and offers no protection against HID injection attacks that masquerade as keyboards or mice.
Sources: Hackaday
M.A.S.K.-Inspired Cyberdeck For All Your Portable Computing Needs
Builder RadioactiveArtist has created a cyberdeck inside a vintage M.A.S.K. lunchbox, the toy line from the 1980s. The lunchbox shell houses a Raspberry Pi 5 as the main computer, paired with a 75% mechanical keyboard that fits into the bottom half of the case. A screen hinges from a secondary panel inside the lid, while stereo speakers provide audio. Power comes from four 18650 lithium cells. The build also includes a card reader and USB 3 ports for connectivity. The project demonstrates how vintage toy packaging can serve as an unusual but practical enclosure for a self-contained portable Linux machine.
Sources: Hackaday
The Orphaned Sources At The Hacker Camp: What Happened Next
When radioactive sources turned up at the 2024 Electromagnetic Field swap meet in the UK, Tryst, a nuclear industry professional, stepped in to safely collect them. At EMF 2026, Tryst presented a follow-up talk explaining what happened since. The sources are industrial Americium alpha emitters, similar to smoke detector material but in larger quantities. Their path to the swap meet is deliberately kept vague to avoid deterring future finders from reporting similar discoveries. Post-Brexit regulatory changes meant the sources' Danish manufacturer could no longer take them back for disposal, leaving Tryst holding items stuck in a regulatory grey area with no clear disposal route.
Sources: Hackaday
Re-Testing An Apollo Guidance Computer Module That Failed Certification Testing
Mike Stewart obtained a Raytheon-made rope driver module from the Apollo Guidance Computer era, stamped Scrapped Module, and set out to determine why it failed its original certification testing. Acceptance documents for the module, designation B16-B17, are preserved on the Internet Archive and detail expected pin measurements, schematics, and mechanical specifications, though the rejection reason was never recorded. Stewart found suspicious marks in the module's potting compound consistent with post-manufacture repair, and an error in the acceptance document: pin number 169 was listed incorrectly where pin 168 was meant. Room-temperature electrical testing showed the module passed all measured parameters, though some channels were out of calibration.
Sources: Hackaday
Reviving A Retro Mouse With BlueTooth Low Energy Support
Maker eSPee77 has given a Genius GM-6000 three-button serial mouse a wireless upgrade without sacrificing the feel of the original hardware. The key was designing a replacement PCB with the same mechanical footprint while reusing the original button switches and quadrature encoders. At the heart of the conversion is an nRF52840 SoC, which handles both optical motion sensing via new sensors that read the existing encoders, and Bluetooth Low Energy wireless transmission. The build adds scroll support through a middle-click and movement gesture, and an inertial measurement unit enables an air mouse presentation mode. Full project details and source code are documented on Hackster.io.
Sources: Hackaday
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Curated by JD · samwise.agency