tic tacs are my tactic

Posted on 2022-11-27 [Sunday] by Jay Jay

I heard that tic tac containers make for good housing for Ardunio Nanos. So I did the obvious thing:

Brass vs. Phosphor Bronze

Posted on 2022-11-26 [Saturday] by Jay Jay

Today I learned about Brass vs. Phosphor Bronze. There’s more to know. My guess is that Phosphor Bronze is probably best for Contact, Commercial MATE-N-LOK, Socket, Crimp, 18 AWG, Tin Plated Contacts.

Update: actually looks like tin plated brass is more common/standard/cheaper? than phosphor bronze. I think it’s a technical detail that probably doesn’t matter much. Some products just say “copper alloy”, and they’re both copper alloys.

Picking a 16-channel external power connection

Posted on 2022-11-26 [Saturday] by Jay Jay

So I’m planning to put an Xbox power supply,

in a box,

I wasn’t sure exactly which box, so I got four, hoping one would work.
The sockets and pinouts vary,

So I will need to make three different types of cables, one for each version range: v1.0-v1.1, v1.2-v1.5, v1.6. But those vary only on the “motherboard side”, the connector that connects to a power supply in a box can be anything, and I can pick it. By my count the maximum cable requirement is 16 cables. So I’m looking for a recommendation for what power connector to install the on the box. Ideally something I can bolt into the box that can handle a couple of amps of DC and into which I can plug my custom cable. Craig? :)
Update: from here maximum observed current 8.6A. I would like to use D Sub Connector Housing, 25 Ways, D Sub, 3, AMPLIMITE HDP-20, Receptacle, Steel Body but I’m not sure if they’re rated high enough for the current.

TIS-100 PoC

Posted on 2022-11-22 [Tuesday] by Jay Jay

So not sure if I’ve mentioned TIS-100 on the blog before or not (update: I have). But it’s this neat computer game where you need to program a network of devices (the “Tessellated Information System”) in a pseudo assembly language in order to make a broader information system work. Anyway I was thinking about doing a hardware implementation of the system and using either some type of ATtiny (probably an ATtiny85, maybe an ATtiny45) or maybe an Arduino Nano. I did a mockup with an OLED display using a nano: