The Making of a Minimalist Analog Drum Machine
Our hacker [Moritz Klein] shows us how to make a minimalist analog drum machine. If you want the gory details check out the video embedded blow and there is a first class write-up available as a 78 page PDF manual too. Indeed it has been a while since we have seen a project which was this well documented.
A typical drum machine will have many buttons and LEDs and is usually implemented with a microcontroller. In this project [Moritz] eschews that complexity and comes up with an analog solution using a few integrated circuits, LEDs, and buttons.
The heart of the build are the integrated circuits which include two TL074 quad op amps, a TL072 dual op amp, a CD4520 binary counter, and eight CD4015 shift registers. Fifteen switches and buttons are used along with seven LEDs. And speaking of LEDs, our hacker [Moritz] seems to have an LED schematic symbol tattooed to his hand, and we don’t know about you, but this screams credibility to us! 😀
This capable drum machine includes a bunch of features, including: 4 independent channels with one-button step input/removal; up to 16 steps per channel; optional half-time mode per channel; two synchronizable analog low-frequency oscillators (LFOs) for dynamic accents; resistor-DAC output for pitch or decay modulation; and an internal clock with 16th, 8th, and quarter note outputs, which can be synchronized with external gear.
Of course at Hackaday we’ve seen plenty of drum machines before. If you’re interested in drum machines you might also like to check out Rope Core Drum Machine and Shapeshifter – An Open Source Drum Machine.
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Mesa Project Adds Code Comprehension Requirement After AI Slop Incident
Recently [Faith Ekstrand] announced on Mastodon that Mesa was updating its contributor guide. This follows a recent AI slop incident where someone submitted a massive patch to the Mesa project with the claim that this would improve performance ‘by a few percent’. The catch? The entire patch was generated by ChatGPT, with the submitter becoming somewhat irate when the very patient Mesa developers tried to explain that they’d happily look at the issue after the submitter had condensed the purported ‘improvement’ into a bite-sized patch.
The entire saga is summarized in a recent video by [Brodie Robertson] which highlights both how incredibly friendly the Mesa developers are, and how the use of ChatGPT and kin has made some people with zero programming skills apparently believe that they can now contribute code to OSS projects. Unsurprisingly, the Mesa developers were unable to disabuse this particular individual from that notion, but the diff to the Mesa contributor guide by [Timur Kristóf] should make abundantly clear that someone playing Telephone between a chatbot and OSS project developers is neither desirable nor helpful.
That said, [Brodie] also highlights a recent post by [Daniel Stenberg] of Curl fame, who thanked [Joshua Rogers] for contributing a massive list of potential issues that were found using ‘AI-assisted tools’, as detailed in this blog post by [Joshua]. An important point here is that these ‘AI tools’ are not LLM-based chatbots, but rather tweaked existing tools like static code analyzers with more smarts bolted on. They’re purpose-made tools that still require you to know what you’re doing, but they can be a real asset to a developer, and a heck of a lot more useful to a project like Curl than getting sent fake bug reports by a confabulating chatbot as has happened previously.
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Electric Surfboard Gets Thrust Vectoring Upgrade
The internet has already taught us that an electric surfboard is a great way to get around on the water while looking like an absolute badass. [RCLifeOn] is continuing to push the boat forward in this regard, however, adding thrust vectoring technology to his already-impressive build.
If you’re unfamiliar with the world of electric surfboards, the concept is relatively simple. Stick one or more electric ducted fan thrusters on the back, add some speed controllers, and power everything from a chunky bank of lithium-ion batteries. Throw in a wireless hand controller, and you’ve got one heck of a personal watercraft.
Traditionally, these craft are steered simply by leaning and twisting as a surfer would with a traditional board. However, more dynamic control is possible if you add a way to aim the thrust coming from the propulsion system. [RCLifeOn] achieved this by adding steerable nozzles behind the ducted fan thrusters, controlled with big hobby servos to handle the forces involved. The result is a more controllable electric surfboard that can seriously carve through the turns. Plus, it’s now effectively an RC boat all on its own, as it no longer needs a rider on board to steer.
We’ve covered various developments in this surfboard’s history before, too. Video after the break.
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E il 3 ottobre sciopero generale
@Giornalismo e disordine informativo
articolo21.org/2025/10/e-il-3-…
Dopo l’abbordaggio da parte delle navi israeliane, le principali sigle sindacali hanno indetto la manifestazione generale per il 3 ottobre. L’Italia scende in piazza. “L’aggressione contro navi civili che trasportano cittadine e cittadini italiani, rappresenta un fatto di
A Gubbio incontro sull’informazione a Gaza
@Giornalismo e disordine informativo
articolo21.org/2025/10/a-gubbi…
Più di 250 giornalisti uccisi in due anni, in media 11 al mese. Mai così tanti, in nessun altro conflitto. A cui si aggiunge il divieto d’ingresso per la stampa internazionale. Quello che sta succedendo a Gaza viene raccontato, tra mille rischi
Israele ha bloccato la Flotilla alle 21
@Giornalismo e disordine informativo
articolo21.org/2025/10/israele…
Le immagini delle telecamere, che in contemporanea trasmettono un video delle dirette della navigazione, cominciano a spegnersi con le prime manovre di abbordaggio dei soldati: in meno di un’ora le connessioni cadono man mano, formando sul display una
L’Italia nelle piazze per sostenere la Flotilla. Sit in spontanei, pacifici, solidali
@Giornalismo e disordine informativo
articolo21.org/2025/10/litalia…
Non appena si è diffusa la notizia del blocco della Global Sumud Flotilla, decine di migliaia di cittadini in tutta Italia si
Phantom Taurus: dettagli sull’APT cinese
@Informatica (Italy e non Italy 😁)
Phantom Taurus. Questo gruppo APT, legato alla Repubblica Popolare Cinese, è emerso dopo oltre due anni di monitoraggio da parte dei ricercatori di Unit 42 di Palo Alto Networks. Le sue operazioni di spionaggio, concentrate su enti governativi e di telecomunicazioni in Africa, Medio Oriente e Asia, rivelano un livello di
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‘I cannot overstate how disgusting I find this kind of AI dog shit in the first place, never mind under these circumstances.’#News
Saremo in piazza ovunque si manifesterà contro il genocidio e contro l’aggressione alla Flotilla per Gaza
@Giornalismo e disordine informativo
articolo21.org/2025/10/saremo-…
Condividiamo le parole di Maurizio Landini. Saremo in
Arriva MatrixPDF: bastano pochi click e il phishing è servito!
È stato scoperto un nuovo toolkit di phishing, MatrixPDF, che consente agli aggressori di trasformare normali file PDF in esche interattive che aggirano la sicurezza della posta elettronica e reindirizzano le vittime a siti Web che rubano credenziali o scaricano malware.
I ricercatori di Varonis, che hanno scoperto lo strumento, sottolineano che MatrixPDF viene pubblicizzato come un simulatore di phishing e una soluzione per specialisti di black team. Tuttavia, sottolineano che è stato individuato per la prima volta su forum di hacker.
“MatrixPDF: è uno strumento avanzato per la creazione di PDF di phishing realistici, progettato per i team di black team e per la formazione sulla sicurezza informatica”, si legge nell’annuncio. “Con l’importazione di PDF tramite trascinamento della selezione, l’anteprima in tempo reale e le sovrapposizioni personalizzabili, MatrixPDF consente di creare scenari di phishing di livello professionale. Funzionalità di sicurezza integrate come la sfocatura dei contenuti, i reindirizzamenti sicuri, la crittografia dei metadati e il bypass di Gmail garantiscono affidabilità e distribuzione in ambienti di test.”
Il toolkit è disponibile con diversi piani tariffari, che vanno da $ 400 al mese a $ 1.500 all’anno.
I ricercatori spiegano che il builder MatrixPDF consente agli aggressori di caricare un file PDF legittimo e poi di aggiungervi funzionalità dannose, come l’offuscamento del contenuto, falsi prompt “Documento protetto” e sovrapposizioni cliccabili che puntano a un URL esterno con il payload.
Inoltre, MatrixPDF consente azioni JavaScript, che vengono attivate quando un utente apre un documento o clicca su un pulsante. In questo caso, il codice JavaScript tenta di aprire un sito web o di eseguire altre azioni dannose.
La funzione di sfocatura crea file PDF il cui contenuto appare protetto, sfocato e contiene un pulsante “Apri documento protetto“. Cliccando su questo pulsante si apre un sito web che può essere utilizzato per rubare credenziali o distribuire malware.
Un test condotto da specialisti ha dimostrato che i PDF dannosi creati utilizzando MatrixPDF possono essere inviati a una casella di posta Gmail e che l’email riesce a bypassare i filtri anti-phishing. Questo perché questi file non contengono file binari dannosi, ma solo link esterni.
Un altro test condotto dai ricercatori dimostra come la semplice apertura di un PDF dannoso provochi l’apertura di un sito web esterno. Questa funzionalità è più limitata, poiché i moderni visualizzatori di PDF avvisano l’utente che il file sta tentando di connettersi a un sito remoto.
Gli esperti di Varonis ci ricordano che i file PDF restano uno strumento popolare per gli attacchi di phishing perché sono ampiamente distribuiti e le piattaforme di posta elettronica possono visualizzarli senza preavviso.
L'articolo Arriva MatrixPDF: bastano pochi click e il phishing è servito! proviene da il blog della sicurezza informatica.
Segger’s Awkward USB-C Issue With the J-Link Compact Debugger
Theoretically USB-C is a pretty nifty connector, but the reality is that it mostly provides many exciting new ways to make your device not work as expected. With the gory details covered by [Alvaro], the latest to join the party is Segger, with its J-Link BASE Compact MCU debugger displaying the same behavior which we saw back when the Raspberry Pi 4 was released in 2019. Back then so-called e-marked USB-C cables failed to power the SBC, much like how this particular J-Link unit refuses to power up when connected using one of those special USB-C cables.
We covered the issue in great detail back then, discussing how the CC1 and CC1 connections need to be wired up correctly with appropriate resistors in order for the USB-C supply – like a host PC – to provide power to the device. As [Alvaro] discovered through some investigation, this unit made basically the same mistake as the RPi 4B SBC before the corrected design. This involves wiring CC1 and CC2 together and as a result seeing the same <1 kOhm resistance on the active CC line, meaning that to the host device you just hooked up a USB-C audio dongle, which obviously shouldn’t be supplied with power.
Although it’s not easy to tell when this particular J-Link device was produced, the PCB notes its revision as v12.1, so presumably it’s not the first rodeo for this general design, and the product page already shows a different label than for the device that [Alvaro] has. It’s possible that it originally was sloppily converted from a previous micro-USB-powered design where CC lines do not exist and things Just Work, but it’s still a pretty major oversight from what should be a reputable brand selling a device that costs €400 + VAT, rather than a reputable brand selling a <$100 SBC.
For any in the audience who have one of these USB-C-powered debuggers, does yours work with e-marked cables, and what is the revision and/or purchase date?
Flotilla: blocco navale e diritto internazionale
di Massimo Mazzucco
youtube.com/watch?v=6dyFyLb9cd…
- YouTube
Profitez des vidéos et de la musique que vous aimez, mettez en ligne des contenus originaux, et partagez-les avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier.www.youtube.com
#USA, l'ascia dello #shutdown
USA, l’ascia dello “shutdown”
La chiusura parziale di uffici e servizi pubblici a causa della mancata approvazione del bilancio federale non è un evento inedito negli Stati Uniti e lo “shutdown”, o la minaccia di esso, viene spesso utilizzato come uno strumento di pressione polit…www.altrenotizie.org
“LA PENSIONE NON È DOVUTA”
La Fornero torna a fare terrorismo pontificando sulla Finanziaria: «Punirà i giovani». Parola di chi ha fabbricato migliaia di esodati.
Da 14 anni insiste, cioè da quando tentò di distruggere quel che restava di un Paese massacrato dallo spread e in pieno tsunami da crisi dei debiti sovrani. Non ci riuscì. Ma da allora è un continuo rimodellare la realtà, vantare operazioni pseudo-strategiche, ergersi a salvatrice della patria.
Anche stavolta Fornero vede grigio e lancia un siluro dal titolo: «Legge di bilancio, il solito mercato che alla fine punisce i giovani». L’ex ministro del Lavoro, impegnata vita natural durante a giustificare la sua sanguinosa riforma, sostiene che sarebbe sbagliato proporre «provvedimenti che ripropongono per l’ennesima volta la falsa illusione dell’anticipo del pensionamento per fare posto ai giovani o il falso mito del diritto acquisito».
E per chiudere dichiara: «Mostrateci, governo e opposizione, quello sguardo lungo e inclusivo che per molto tempo è mancato alla politica italiana».
Sorvolando sullo sguardo inclusivo (poiché il suo includeva i sottopassi delle stazioni come abitazioni per i 170.000 esodati fabbricati a mano),fa specie che la ex docente universitaria torinese continui a definire un diritto acquisito, praticamente una grazia del sovrano che getta dobloni dalla finestra ai villani, quello che secondo la Costituzione è uno dei patti sociali più inscalfibili in una democrazia; un contratto fra Stato e cittadini, i quali ne rivendicano il rispetto e l’applicazione nel momento in cui maturano requisiti anagrafici e contributivi di legge.
Fornero riesce a concretizzare due paradossi: definisce regalìa una prerogativa di legge, ancor più dopo l’applicazione in toto del sistema contributivo. E trasforma un dovere costituzionale (quello dell’erogazione della pensione ai lavoratori) in un principio contabile, scambiando allegramente lo Stato per una Spa.
È lo stesso errore che si commette sulla Sanità quando si evoca il pareggio di bilancio, ritenendo erroneamente che debba essere un investimento a scopo di lucro e non un servizio indispensabile da eseguire anche in perdita.
Oracoli iettatori di cui non sentiamo il bisogno.
Vox Italia
LIVE. Global Sumud Flotilla intercettata: Israele blocca e abborda le navi a 75 miglia da Gaza
@Notizie dall'Italia e dal mondo
I militari sono saliti a bordo dell'Alma, sequestrando barca ed equipaggio
pagineesteri.it/2025/10/01/med…
FLOSS Weekly Episode 849: Veilid: Be a Brick
This week Jonathan talks with Brandon and TC about Veilid, the peer-to-peer networking framework that takes inspiration from Tor, and VeilidChat, the encrypted messenger built on top of it. What was the inspiration? How does it work, and what can you do with it? Listen to find out!
youtube.com/embed/FQcBrBCd1V8?…
Did you know you can watch the live recording of the show right on our YouTube Channel? Have someone you’d like us to interview? Let us know, or contact the guest and have them contact us! Take a look at the schedule here.
play.libsyn.com/embed/episode/…
Direct Download in DRM-free MP3.
If you’d rather read along, here’s the transcript for this week’s episode.
Places to follow the FLOSS Weekly Podcast:
Theme music: “Newer Wave” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
hackaday.com/2025/10/01/floss-…
Kodak announced two new types of film that it will sell directly to photography stores, sidestepping a bizarre distribution agreement that has been in place since its bankruptcy.#Photography #FilmCameras #film
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Lost Techniques: Bond-out CPUs and In Circuit Emulation
These days, we take it for granted that you can connect a cheap piece of hardware to a microcontroller and have an amazing debugging experience. Stop the program. Examine memory and registers. You can see and usually change anything. There are only a handful of ways this is done on modern CPUs, and they all vary only by detail. But this wasn’t always the case. Getting that kind of view to an actual running system was an expensive proposition.
Today, you typically have some serial interface, often JTAG, and enough hardware in the IC to communicate with a host computer to reveal and change internal state, set breakpoints, and the rest. But that wasn’t always easy. In the bad old days, transistors were large and die were small. You couldn’t afford to add little debugging pins to each processor you produced.
This led to some very interesting workarounds. Of course, you could always run simulators on a larger computer. But that might not work in real time, and almost certainly didn’t have all the external things you wanted to connect to, unless you also simulated them.
The alternative? Create a special chip, often called a bond-out chip. These were usually expensive and had some way to communicate with the outside world. This might be a couple of pins, or there might be a bundle of wires coming out of the top of the chip. You replaced your microprocessor with the expensive bond-out chip and connected it to your very expensive in-circuit emulator.If you have a better scan of the ICE-51 datasheet, we’d love to see it.
For example, the venerable 8051 had an 8051E chip that brought out the address and data bus lines for debugging. In fact, the history of the 8051 notes that they developed the bond-out chip first. The chip was bigger and sold in lower volumes, so it was more expensive. It needed not just connections but breakpoint hardware to stop the CPU at exactly the right time for debugging.
In some cases, the emulator probe was a board that sat between a stock CPU and the CPU socket. Of course, that meant you had to have room to accommodate the large board. Of course, it also assumes that at least your development board had a socket, although in those days it was rare to have an expensive CPU soldered right down to the board.Another poor scan, this time of the Lauterbach emulator probe for the 68000.
For example, the Lauterbach ICE-68300 here could take a bond-out chip or a regular chip, although it would be missing features if you didn’t have the special chip.
Of course, you can still find them in circuit emulators, but the difference is that they almost certainly have supporting hardware on the standard chip and simply use a serial communication protocol to talk to the on-chip hardware.
Of course, if you want an emulator for an old CPU, you have enough horsepower now that you can probably emulate it like with a modern processor, like the IZE80 does in the video below. Then you can incorporate all kinds of magical debugging features. But be careful what you take on. To properly mimic the hardware means tight timing for things like DRAM refresh and a complete understanding of all the bus timings involved.
But it can be done. In any event, on chip debugging or real in-circuit emulation, it sure makes life easier.
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Both organizations are seeking a copy of a data sharing agreement that is giving the personal data of nearly 80 million Medicaid patients to ICE.#Announcements
La Global Sumud Flotilla dice che una decina di navi si stanno avvicinando
ilpost.it/live/global-sumud-fl…
La Global Sumud Flotilla dice che una decina di navi si stanno avvicinando
E tra poco potrebbe iniziare l’operazione di Israele per bloccare la navigazione verso la Striscia di GazaIl Post
Poliversity - Università ricerca e giornalismo reshared this.
Building An Open Source Point of Sale System
[Mukesh Sankhla] has been tinkering in the world of Point of Sale systems of late. His latest creation is a simple, straightforward kiosk system, and he’s open sourced the design.
The Latte Panda MU single-board computer is at the heart of the build, handling primary duties and communicating with the outside world. It’s hooked up to a touchscreen display which shows the various items available for purchase. As an x86 system, the Latte Panda runs Windows 11, along with a simple kiosk software package written in Python. The software uses Google Firebase as a database backend. There’s also an Xiao ESP32 S3 microcontroller in the mix, serving as an interface between the Latte Panda and the thermal printer which is charged with printing receipts.
It’s worth noting that this is just a point-of-sale system; it executes orders, but doesn’t directly deliver or vend anything. With that said, since it’s all open-source, there’s nothing stopping you from upgrading this project further.
We’ve featured other interesting point-of-sale systems before; particularly interesting was the San Francisco restaurant that was completely automated with no human interaction involved
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Per il primo summit internazionale sull’Intelligenza Artificiale nella #scuola, promosso dal #MIM nell’ambito del Campus itinerante #ScuolaFutura, sono previste le delegazioni di istituzioni sc…
Ministero dell'Istruzione
#NextGenAI, a Napoli da mercoledì 8 a lunedì 13 ottobre! Per il primo summit internazionale sull’Intelligenza Artificiale nella #scuola, promosso dal #MIM nell’ambito del Campus itinerante #ScuolaFutura, sono previste le delegazioni di istituzioni sc…Telegram
Francy 🌻
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