Old School Hacker

Dead PICKit 2

An associate of mine has a PICKit 2 programmer from Microchip.  This is a pretty versatile little programmer, capable of programming most 14 bit PIC parts going.  The problem is that his programmer is no longer enumerating on USB.  My idea is to crack open the case, and see if the microcontroller inside support ICSP.  If it does, we may be able to reprogram the firmware using a different PICKit 2. I shall give further updates later once I've seen the dead PICKit.

Finding Information - At the Library

Just about every city in the US and Canada has at least one library.  When was the last time you went?  There are a lot who don't take advantage of the library, and never even think to go there for research.  Libraries can have incredible resources. 

I will confess to being a real fan of microfilm.  The microfilm and microfiche sections of a library are my favourite places. It's not uncommon for a local library to have certain newspapers on microfilm going back to 1780!  Want to read articles from the issue of Time magazine that named Stalin man of the year?  They probably have it!  I know the library in my town does, and it is by no means extraordinary.  Go, and browse.  You will be shocked by the wonders that you find.

 

This is all well and good - but what if you want to do solid research and not just browse?  Well, my friend, there is hope!  Nearly every library has a reference desk.  This desk is staffed by librarians trained in research, and who have an intimate familiarity with the library collections.  Speak to them.  Tell them what you are looking for, and what information you have.  They will be able to point you in the appropriate direction and may even tell you of things you didn't even know the library had available. 

Of course, the vast majority of what libraries stock can be found online.  This can certainly make the work of research faster and more convenient.  The only thing is, access to these resources is expensive!  The resources in the library are free, and supported by taxes.  Thousands of dollars worth of archival information and a professional researcher all available for the cost of a few photocopies!  It would be a shame to not take advantage of such a bargain.

Experimenting with VMware

I have just begun experimenting with VMware and Ubuntu.  Bear in mind, I am playing with VMware Workstation.  I'm finding that it's not really performing well under the circumstances.  The guest OS is doing brilliantly.  If you sshed into it, you'd never know it was running under Windows XP in a virtual machine. 

The problem isn't with the guest OS.  The problem is on the host OS side.  This particular system is shared with others who use XP.  I was hoping to run both OSes side by side and save the hydro of a second system.  Unfortunately, the performance penalty to the host OS in this case seems to be too much. 

It really wouldn't surprise me if, with a Linux host OS and windows guest OS, the entire system had far better performance.  Less overhead on the host OS side would certainly alleviate the performance hit at least a little.  When I finally find my Linux box among my things from Edmonton, I'll probably just bring it online and forget about VMware.

Cheap & Easy Radiation Detection

Ever want to build a means of detecting radiation without spending cash on a Geiger-Muller tube?  This site has directions for a very basic detector that relies only on a handful of components.  Link via

 

Homeopath Lecture

I am astounded watching this.  Just astounded.  You would be very hard pressed indeed to find a single truth in all that she says.  She has misunderstood every scientific principle she touches upon.  In doing so, she has wound them into a ridiculous fairy tale.  She even gets Stephen Hawking's last name wrong(Hawking, not Hawkings). 

Now, for the scary part:  People believe this.  They put faith in it.  Not just a little.  This isn't minor healthcare we're talking about.  These people will claim that they can cure cancer!  It is critical to understand the humbug that these people are selling.  Found here.

Magic Forum

As you may know, I have recently taken a significant interest in prestidigitation.  It has taken a fair bit of hunting to find good resources.  There are many forums that are broken, and many resources that are dead.  I have managed to find one good forum, however.

It's the Magic Cafe forum.  It's very active and has a large number of members.  I've been able to get some very interesting advice from it.

Dorkbot Sarnia Enters Larval Stage

The Sarnia Dorkbot is slowly starting to organize!  If you live near Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, you will want to check it out.  We have the announce list here and the blabber list for discussion here.  The website is not put together, but we plan on putting up some articles on electronics and whatnot for people.  Sarnia is situated about midway between Detroit and Toronto, and is home to the Bluewater Bridge.

Choice of Operating System

It's interesting to watch people discuss choice of operating system.  In a lot of ways, the modern computer industry was built by hackers.  Many old hackers are bluntly honest about what they build.  This is necessary, if a design is bad and no one says so for fear of hurt feelings, the technology never improves.  Linus Torvalds is a prime example of this.  If he sees something of stupid design, he calls them on it.  There is much in computers that can be objectively evaluated and treated to this process of caustic refining.  There are, however, some matters that are chiefly points of opinion and preference.  This lends itself to 'holy wars' between groups of people of two preferences.  The classic holy war is between emacs and vi users.  An old argument between Torvalds and Tannenbaum has raged over monolithic versus microkernel architectures.  This extends to operating systems.

 

I confess that I am pretty much agnostic these days.  I have in the past been a rabid advocate of Linux, and still find it to be very much superior in many areas.  I keep both Windows and Linux around, because without them I find myself limited in some regards.   I play with electronics a fair bit, and most of the free development tools manufacturers make available are windows-only.  But, I find if I have only windows, I miss out on many Linux tools that are of great use.  I have even had a mac running so I could put programs under Mac OS X.

Coin Magic

I have recently begun taking an interest in prestidigitation.  This is largely due to the work of Mr. James Randi, who is a thoroughly entertaining gentleman to watch.  I have a lifelong fondness for silver dollars, and am substantially drawn to the subject of coin magic.  The classic work on this subject is Modern Coin Magic by JB Bobo.  This link goes to the Dover reprint on Amazon.  This version is very economical, however there is a newer edition that has a great deal more material.  This version can be found here.  It is more expensive, running $40 and comes in a hardcover binding.  My understanding is that it is emphatically worth the extra money.

Aside: Am I the only one who finds it odd that an online bookstore is named with the greek for 'without breast'?

Prototyping with SMT Components

There are a couple of ways of mounting surface mount parts.  One way is to make a suitable PCB and use a solder reflow technique, as discussed in an excellent tutorial from Sparkfun.  If you prefer to take a different route, there is always the Schmartboard.  These are designed with the solder necessary already in grooves in the PCB.  You position the IC, tape it down, and put the tip of your iron in one of those silver tracks you see on the board.  Once the solder has melted, you push the molten solder towards the pin making a joint.  Mind, these are RoHS boards.  You will need an iron hot enough to melt the modern lead-free solders.

Another nifty trick is the use of a hot air rework system.  Sparkfun sells one model for around $200.  Not only does hot air rework allow you to build SMT circuits, it also allows you to scavenge parts from dead electronics.  A concern of mine has been the cost.  I have a Weller WTCP, and while it isn't hot enough for RoHS, it is a fine iron and has served both myself and my father well for more than 20 years.  It's difficult to justify $200 on a hot-air rework system.  Interestingly, Episode 15 of AmateurLogic featured a technique for hot-air rework that uses a 'hot air embosser' to do the heating.  This seems to perform yeoman service for very little money.  More on this technique can be seen here.