Tom Nardi

Managing Editor at Hackaday

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Articles

Libogc Allegations Rock Wii Homebrew Community

2 weeks ago | hackaday.com | Tom Nardi

Historically, efforts to create original games and tools, port over open source emulators, and explore a game console’s hardware and software have been generally lumped together under the banner of “homebrew.” While not the intended outcome, it’s often the case that exploring a console in this manner unlocks methods to run pirated games.
Supercon 2024: Exploring The Ocean With Open Source Hardware

4 weeks ago | hackaday.com | Tom Nardi

If you had to guess, what do you think it would take to build an ocean-going buoy that could not only survive on its own without human intervention for more than two years, but return useful data the whole time? You’d probably assume such a feat would require beefy hardware, riding inside an expensive and relatively large watertight vessel of some type — and for good reason, the ocean is an unforgiving environment, and has sent far more robust hardware to the briny depths.
Hackaday Podcast Episode 316: Soft Robots, Linux The Hard Way, Cellphones Into SBCs, And The Circuit Graver

1 month ago | hackaday.com | Tom Nardi

Join Hackaday Editors Elliot Williams and Tom Nardi as they talk about the best stories and hacks of the week. This episode starts off with a discussion of the Vintage Computer Festival East and Philadelphia Maker Faire — two incredible events that just so happened to be scheduled for the same weekend.
Clever Engineering Leaves Appliance Useless

1 month ago | hackaday.com | Tom Nardi

Around these parts, we generally celebrate clever hacks that let you do more with less. So if somebody wrote in to tell us how they used multiplexing to drive the front panel of their latest gadget with fewer pins on the microcontroller than would normally be required, we’d be all over it. But what if that same hack ended up leading to a common failure in a piece of consumer hardware? As [Jim] recently found out, that’s precisely what seems to be ailing the Meaco Arete dehumidifier.
In 2025, The Philly Maker Faire Finds Its Groove

1 month ago | hackaday.com | Tom Nardi

The first Philadelphia Maker Faire was extremely impressive, and seemed poised to be one of the premier maker events on the East Coast. Unfortunately, it had the misfortune of happening just a few months before COVID-19 made such events impossible. Robbed of all its momentum, the event tried out different venues after the shadow of the pandemic was gone, but struggled to meet the high bar set by that inaugural outing.
LayerLapse Simplifies 3D Printer Time-lapse Shots

1 month ago | hackaday.com | Tom Nardi

We know you’ve seen them: the time-lapses that show a 3D print coming together layer-by-layer without the extruder taking up half the frame. It takes a little extra work compared to just pointing a camera at the build plate, but it’s worth it to see your prints materialize like magic. Usually these are done with a plugin for OctoPrint, but with all due respect to that phenomenal project, it’s a lot to get set up if you just want to take some pretty pictures.
Printed Robotic Arm Pumps Up With Brushless Motors

1 month ago | hackaday.com | Tom Nardi

[JesseDarr] recently wrote in to tell us about their dynamic Arm for Robitc Mischief (dARM), a mostly 3D printed six degrees of freedom (6DOF) robotic arm that’s designed to be stronger and more capable than what we’ve seen so far from the DIY community. The secret? Rather than using servos, dARM uses brushless DC (BLDC) motors paired with ODrive S1 controllers.
Atomic Clock Trades Receiver For An ESP8266

1 month ago | hackaday.com | Tom Nardi

The advantage of a radio-controlled clock that receives the time signal from WWVB is that you never have to set it again. Whether it’s a little digital job on your desk, or some big analog wall clock that’s hard to access, they’ll all adjust themselves as necessary to keep perfect time. But what if the receiver conks out on you? Well, you’d still have a clock. But you’d have to set it manually like some kind of Neanderthal.
Fiber Laser Gives DIY PCBs A Professional Finish

1 month ago | hackaday.com | Tom Nardi

While low-cost professional PCB fabrication has largely supplanted making circuit boards at home, there’s still something to be said for being able to go from design to prototype in an afternoon. Luckily we aren’t limited to the old toner transfer trick for DIY boards these days, as CNC routers and powerful lasers can be used to etch boards quickly and accurately. But there’s still a problem — those methods leave you with a board that has exposed traces.
Command And Conquer Ported To The Pi Pico 2

1 month ago | hackaday.com | Tom Nardi

A couple of months back, Electronic Arts did something uncharacteristically benevolent and released several of the old Command and Conquer games under the GPLv3. Logically, we knew that opened the doors up to the games being ported to new operating systems and architectures, but we admit that it was still a little surprising to see Command and Conquer: Red Alert running on the Raspberry Pi Pico 2.