Category: computer hacks

We (well, some of us) are complete suckers for things that are both much smaller and much larger than life. And if that thing actually does what its supposed to? Squee! So naturally, we rushed to bring you news of this mini NUC rack designed by [Jeremy Weatherford]. Inspiration comes from a lot of places, […]
Although quantum processors exist today, they are still a long way off from becoming practical replacements for classical computers. This is due to many practical considerations, not the least of which are factors such as the need for cryogenic cooling and external noise affecting the system necessitating a level of error-correction which does not exist […]
[Marius Taciuc’s] latest endeavor, the B4 Thinker, offers a captivating glimpse into microcontroller architecture through a modular approach. This proof-of-concept project is meticulously documented, with a detailed, step-by-step guide to each component and its function. Launched in 2014, the B4 Thinker project began with the ambitious goal of building a microcontroller from scratch. The resulting […]
One of the things that we love about the modern era of computing is the increasing ease by which you can roll your own custom computer, as seen with the cyberdeck phenomenon. The Flying Lotus is another awesome build in this vein. Built around the Framework ecosystem, this device was built to suit the very […]
It might seem like the days of MS-DOS were a lifetime ago because…well, they basically were. Version 6.22 of the venerable operating system, the last standalone release, came out back in 1994. That makes even the most recent version officially 30 years old. A lot has changed in the computing world since that time, so […]
Serena OS is not just another operating system—it’s a playground for hackers, tinkerers, and Amiga enthusiasts pushing vintage hardware to new limits. Born from modern design principles and featuring pervasive preemptive concurrency and multi-user support, [dplanitzer]’s Serena OS is far from ordinary. Running on Amiga systems with a 68030 or better CPU, it challenges traditional […]
While track pads and mice dominate the pointing device landscape today, there was a time when track balls were a major part of the scene. In order to really sell the retro chops of his portable computer, [Ominous Industries] designed a clip-on style track ball for his retro Raspberry Pi laptop. Starting with a half […]
With modern tools, you have to try very hard to do something stupid, because the tools (rightly) recognize you’re doing something stupid. [Andreas Karlsson] can speak to that first hand as he tried to get four billion if statements to compile. You may ask what state space requires four billion comparisons to evaluate? The answer […]
There have been many computers that played a little jingle to greet you upon booting. The NEC PC-9800 is a famous example, though almost all the Macintosh computers played either the soothing “booting” chord or sometimes the Sad Mac “error” chord. And of course, consoles have long played music on startup, with the original PlayStation […]
With a number of repair-friendly companies entering the scene, we have gained motivation to dig deeper into devices they build, repurpose them in ways yet unseen, and uncover their secrets. One such secret was recently discovered by [Ayeitsyaboii] on Reddit – turns out, you can use the Steam Deck mainboard as a standalone CPU board […]